Heavenly Minded Yet Still Earthly Good*

For Christ-followers, this life is temporary, and heaven is our eternal reward. We are told to “Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:2-3, NLT). Yet that doesn’t mean we check out of this life and coast along to the end. There is an old saying: “He was so heavenly minded that he was no earthly good.” But the truth is, when we fully comprehend the realities of heaven that await those who trust in Jesus, it motivates us to bring as many people as possible with us. It also gives us hope to anchor us during life’s storms.

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/16335645

In this episode, Pastor Chris Teien unpacks Colossians 3 to show why our focus should be on eternal realities, not just earthly concerns. Discover what it means to live with a heavenly mindset, resist the world’s distractions, and invest in what truly matters.

Key Points

1. Look Ahead to Eternity in Heaven (Colossians 3:1-4)

• As believers, we are raised to new life with Christ (v.1).
• Our focus should be on heavenly realities, not earthly distractions (v.2).
• Our true life is hidden with Christ and will be revealed in glory (v.3-4).

2. Look Away from Earthly Traps (Colossians 3:5-9)

• We must put to death sinful desires, including immorality, greed, and idolatry (v.5-6).
• Anger, slander, and dishonesty damage relationships and our witness (v.8-9).
• Our identity in Christ means we are no longer controlled by our past life.

3. Look Awesome—Knowing and Growing in Christ (Colossians 3:10-11)

• God calls us to put on a new nature and be renewed in knowledge (v.10).
• In Christ, all believers are united, regardless of background or status (v.11).
• When we grow in Christ, our lives reflect His goodness and purpose.

Notable Quotes

• “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven.” – Colossians 3:1
• “Do that to sin—declare it dead to you. But stay alive in Christ.”
• “Your real life is hidden with Christ in God. That’s where your ultimate satisfaction and joy are found.”

Actionable Takeaways

• Shift Your Focus – How much time do you spend thinking about heaven versus earthly concerns?
• Kill the Sin That Kills You – Identify areas where temptation is pulling you away from Christ.
• Invest in Eternity – What changes can you make to live for God’s Kingdom first?
• Grow in Christ Daily – Prioritize God’s Word, prayer, and discipleship.

Scripture References

• Colossians 3:1-11 – Setting our hearts on heavenly realities.
• Revelation 21:1-4 – A glimpse of God’s perfect dwelling with His people.
• 1 Timothy 4:7-8 – Training in godliness has eternal value.
• Matthew 6:19-21 – Store up treasures in heaven, not on earth.

Keywords

Heaven, Eternal Life, Colossians 3, Living for Christ, Christian Discipleship, Holiness, Spiritual Growth, Biblical Truth, Faith in Action, Eternal Perspective

18m0630de

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

Alright, so we're talking about heaven. Or look into Colossians chapter three now, in which we see the importance of heaven. What do you think about heaven? When you think about heaven, what comes to mind? I mean, the Bible doesn't give a like a huge description of what heaven is like. It doesn't necessarily tell you all the details. In Revelation chapter 21, it gives some details about heaven, the new heaven. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, Look, God's home is now among his people. He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eye, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain, and all these things will be gone forever. And then you can read more about it. You can read about streets of beautiful gold and all the great things. Some people get excited about thinking that Jesus went to prepare a place for us, that there's many mansions, but a better translation is there's many dwelling places or many rooms. And I was thinking about this the other day, that being that you don't really need to sleep in heaven, being that a dwelling place or a room or a place next to Jesus is way better than having a mansion way off in the country by yourself. And I thought to myself, why is it that I want a mansion off in the country by myself? And it's because I've had experiences with bad neighbors before. Have you ever had an experience with a bad neighbor before, bad roommate, bad neighbor, bad person in the neighborhood that just drives you nuts? And that's why you want to live off on a 40-acre plot by yourself. And hopefully you're safe and secure, and you can invite in whoever you want, but usually people don't bother you as much. In my neighborhood, somebody feels a need to set off fireworks around 11 or midnight. Can't you do that around 10? Haven't figured out who it is yet. I'd like to have a talk. I'm praying for them. That's what I'm doing. So, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. But we don't know a lot about heaven, but we do know that is the place where God is, where Jesus is, where we are promised a better place, a better life, eternal life, eternal provision. All of those things that we need are provided in heaven. And some people say, heaven sounds pretty awesome. Let's just cut this life short and get on with it. But God has a work for us to do, God has things for us to do. There's an old saying where people say, that person is so heavenly minded, they're no earthly good. So hopefully that's not you. Hopefully your thoughts aren't so about heaven that you're like, hey, I don't care about this world. Yeah, I'll tell people if God brings them in my path, yeah, they can go to heaven, but I'm going to heaven, and I don't really care about the rest of the stuff. And I don't really care about making society a better place because I'm going to heaven. And I don't really care about making an impact on this world because it's just temporary, because I'm going to heaven. And instead of that, think, okay, I have the promise of eternal life, so I can spend this life today making a difference in the world, making a difference with the people that God surrounds me, with the opportunity that He gives me. Our church, me, we're growing older. And a lot of us, when the church started, we had little kids that are growing to be older kids, and now they're having kids. And so some of us, we need to think about we can't just duck out now because our kids are no longer in the ministry. We have experience. We have this great opportunity now to minister with even more effectiveness to the kids and to the parents and the people around, and to help bring them to heaven with us, to help bring them along the way with us. And it what a great thing that we can do. So in your outline, it's a really simple outline, and I will make it really easy for you so you're not stressing, trying to know what to fill in the blank. So they all start with A. So number one in your outline, if you want, is look ahead to eternity in heaven. So that's going to be verses one through four. Look ahead. I was going to say look above, but really we're looking forward. We're looking, we're planning, we're investing in heaven. We are thinking that's our eternal home. It seems strange to me that there are parents that want their kids to be really good academically. So they're like, you've got to get good grades so you can get into that college. You gotta do good in this if you want to play this sport later. You gotta play this when you're four years old if you want to play that sport in high school and be any good. And all these investments for the future, but there's not as much of an investment sometimes for parents to say, live a Christian life and honor God, because someday is heaven, someday is rewards. I want to see you in heaven. I want to think about that whole spiritual thing. Some people don't look at that, and even sports on Sunday sometimes. But it's like some of you parents are awesome saying, Well, there's a sports team, traveling sports team, and they play every Sunday. I told my kid only tournament games and only the special things, but not every time. And there's that thought that, okay, we're going to put God first, and what a good thing to think about eternity, look ahead towards eternity. So Colossians chapter 3, Paul writes, Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, sets your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. So when Christ died on that cross and rose again, and you placed your faith in Christ, then your sin was placed on that cross and covered. And when Christ rose from the dead, you rose with him. Your life is in Christ, and you are wrapped up in Christ. So someone had suggested that if this right here, your index finger, if this is you and your other left hand is Christ, and you put your hand around your index finger and wrap it up, that you are in Christ. And when God sees you, he sees you in Christ, and he sees Christ's righteousness and Christ's forgiveness and Christ's new life in you, and then you're assured of heaven, the realities of heaven. Now, God, through his word, hasn't given us all the details of heaven, it probably would blow our minds. How could we even understand all of the things that there could be in heaven? I mean, can you imagine going back 2,000 years ago and for Jesus to try to tell his disciples what life would be like today? It's like, yeah, they're gonna have these machines that they go up and down the highway at 60 to 80 miles per hour to get places, and yeah, it's hot, but they have air conditioning, so it's not bad, but it's super cold, but they've got heat, and they can communicate with each other around the world by a few buttons on this little thing that they carry around, smaller than a rock. And all of these things, if you tried to explain that, those people wouldn't understand. And I guarantee you that heaven is way better, has way better technology than we have, and I'm sure there's gonna be way better stuff on TV too. So there is just so many things that you can think about heaven, but all you need to know that all God has really given us is that it's a place where God dwells, and Jesus is there reigning, and it's gonna be awesome. Everything about it's there's this other part of it too, where Jesus reigns on earth, and well, what's the topic for a different day? But basically, just think about okay, eternity is in the presence of God. That is heaven. Wherever God is, that's where we are, and what a great thing. So think about that. Think about how do I invest my life, think about what I could do to live that out more in my life? What is it that I can do to be more godly and to really prioritize that? So set your sights on the realities of heaven. And then it says, For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Do you can have you ever heard that expression? You're dead to me. So you get mad at somebody, and they're like, Oh, well, this relationship's never going on, and I don't like you, and you're like, Well, you're dead to me. That's like the end of the relationship. Don't contact me anymore, don't want to have anything to do with you. That's the sad thing. I hope that you haven't done that to anybody. But do that to sin. Do that to your old life, do that to your old nature, that you're dead to it. So when Jesus died on the cross, he set you free from the power of sin and death. He set you free. You can say no to temptation and yes to living in Christ. And your real life is hidden with Christ in God. So your real life, the life that's going to bring you satisfaction, the life that's going to bring you joy, the life that's really gonna have meaning is your life in Christ, not your life just accumulating things. I mean, you can enjoy the things in the world and enjoy the things that God has put around us. You can also use them for ministry, but your real life, your true life, is in Christ. And doesn't that motivate you to want to spend more time in God's word? Doesn't that motivate you to want to spend more time seeking God's will for your life and praying and asking him to use you to make an eternal difference? Because your real life is in Christ. Your real life is life in Jesus. And someday, Jesus is gonna appear, and we are going, as his Christ followers, we are going to appear with him in glory. We are going to share in his glory, we're gonna be on his team. It's gonna be better than if we were like Super Bowl champions and we came into town and they had a big parade for us. Actually, that that hasn't happened in Minnesota with the Vikings ever. But maybe someday. But I saw it on for some other teams, all the celebrations, but just think on Jesus' team, when the Saints go marching in. Yep, what a great day that will be. But look ahead to eternity, look above, look forward to eternity. So Chuck Swindahl in his Bible commentary talks about this coach that he knew that was a really great coach and really made a difference in his coaching. And he told Chuck Swindahl, he's like, You always want to coach upward. You always want to inspire the players to be better. You don't want to sit there and tell them how terrible they are and just focus on the stuff that's bad. You want to coach upwards and tell them who they can be and what's good in them and make a difference that way. So let's look upward, let's look ahead to eternity. So, since we're living in Christ, our real life is in Christ, then Paul says, So, since we're living this way, then let's change some stuff that other people are doing that's not appropriate for the Christian to do. Let's change some stuff that is going to be a temptation that Satan's gonna try to use to destroy you, to pull you down, that we need to not do. And since your real life is in Christ, it will be better. It will be, it will bring you more joy. There won't be the guilt, the shame, the embarrassment. So Colossians 3.5 says, put to death the sinful, earthly, lurking, the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. So last week I mentioned that Satan and his demons seem to tempt us somehow. And I had read some book there, somebody theorized that maybe some demon speaks in some hard to hear, lower or higher tone, whispers in your ear to try to tempt you to do things. But in the book of James it says that sometimes the evil desires are inside of us, that we've got the evil lurking things working within us. So put to death the sinful earthly things lurking within you have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater worshiping the things of this world. And in our society now, there is more temptation and more opportunity for people to fall into sexual sin and temptation than ever before. So I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but for Father's Day, I was looking for illustrations, humorous illustrations, something for Father's Day. And at the bottom of this page that had these Father's Day quotes and inspirational quotes and stuff. It wasn't a Christian site, but it had some Christian stuff on it, was an advertisement for that immoral dating site, the one that got all the people that used it. I'm not going to give you the name. All the people that used it, their names were revealed and it caused all sorts of problems. But basically, it said something like, Life is short. Get into a relationship with some immoral woman kind of thing. You know, it didn't exactly say that, but it was an advertisement for that. And it was on a Father's Day site, our Father's Day resource site. And I was like, man, this stuff is just like everywhere. And so I also mentioned, and then I verified it, that if you go to right now media and you search on the word pornography, you end up with 32 different videos that help with that, help you help others with that and make a difference. But it is a trap, it is a lie. Matter of fact, Job, first book of the Bible ever written, Job, you the story of Job, tempted by Satan, didn't give in, went through all these hard things. His wife said, Why don't you curse God? And he never did. It's a good book to read. Anyway, Job, he said, I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman. For what is God above chosen for us? What is our inheritance from the Almighty on high? Isn't it calamity for the wicked and misfortune for those who do evil? Doesn't he see everything I do and every step I take? So he's saying, Whatever this is that I'm going through, it's not a result of sins that I've been doing. I'm not carrying the guilt of inappropriate stuff because it made a covenant with my eyes and I didn't cross that line. So whatever I'm going through is not God's punishment or discipline for what I did because I didn't do it. Paul tells Timothy, treat older women as you would your mother and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sister. So when you think about that, now this focuses a lot on what men think, but actually women are more and more having the same kind of struggles. But treat older women as you would your mother, treat younger women with all purity. So when you see this stuff, would you want that to be your sister? Would you want that to be your mom or your daughter? So think about that. Proverbs 6 says, the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself. And then you can read in Proverbs 5, it talks about how the immoral woman, the adulteress, is a trap. And it is a trap. It leads to guilt, it leads to difficulty, it leads to sadness and heartache and difficulties, destroyed relationships. So God warns against it. And he says, Colossians 3, 6, because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. So it's an expectation that if you're living in Christ, you're gonna stop doing this stuff. If you have an addiction, get help. The more time you spend renewing your mind in God's word, the more you see the way that you should live, and then you need to try hard not to live that way. Stay away. Live for Christ. Look away from entrapments on earth. So it talked about the sexual stuff, but it also talks about anger. And it talks about the calamity and the difficulty and all these things that don't be greedy when you focus all on money when it's your when it's your idol. Sometimes the immoral things are an idol. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater. Immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires. Verse 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. And don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all of its wicked deeds. So it talks about set your thoughts and your sights on heaven, focus on God first, and then don't fall into those sins that can get your heart, those things that can pull you away from God, those things that can trap you. And then now, in an outward standpoint, and this happens in the church sometimes too, we don't want to be gossipers. Anger can destroy your ministry, anger can destroy your relationship, anger can destroy your job. I bet you could choose a couple words, well-chosen words at work, and you could get yourself fired. Matter of fact, if you want to get together, I think together we could we could play a little game that says, I bet in seven words we could get you fired. So you tell me who your boss is, where you work, and what you do, and we'll come up with seven perfect words to get you fired. So can we do that? You're an attorney, you're a wordsmith. You think it could happen? Could you do it in less than seven? Could you do it in three? You can do it in three. All right, get yourself fired. Well, wait a second, you work for yourself. What are you gonna do? Fire yourself? You can't fire me? I work for me. So don't lie to each other. You've stripped off your own sinful nature and all of its wicked deeds. These are all traps. All of these things that are made in this list all lead to heartbreak, disappointment, distrust, sadness. It doesn't make your life better. It doesn't enhance your real life in Christ. Colossians 3 10. Look awesome, knowing and growing in Christ. So you can make yourself look bad. I mean, look towards heaven, see your real life in Christ. That's pretty awesome. You can make yourself look bad by doing some of the things I just mentioned. And if we had more time, I could list what each of those words mean and in depth, but that's probably better for a small group Bible study. But now we're on point number three. Look awesome, knowing and growing in Christ. So Colossians 3.10. So basically take off your old dirty stinky clothes and put on your new clothes, your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your creator and become like him. So learn to be like Jesus, follow Jesus as you become more and more like him, your new nature, you will look awesome, you will be awesome. God will use you to do amazing things, and your life will bring satisfaction and joy. It doesn't mean everything's going to be perfect and easy, but it will be of eternal significance and it will bring joy. Happiness and joy are different sometimes, but look awesome. Verse 11 In this new life, it doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. So it doesn't matter your position in life. It doesn't matter your skin color, if you're tall, if you're short, if you're rich, or you're poor, if you live on the hill or down by the tracks. It doesn't matter. God can use all of you in all the situations that you're in. And sometimes the situation you're in is the one that's going to bring the most glory to God. So you can look awesome knowing and growing in Christ.