A Focused Life Series

TOPIC: A FOCUSED LIFE

Text: Colossians 3:1-4

“1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Introduction:

(ILL. The Failure of a Faulty Focus – A woman bought a parrot to keep her company but returned it the next day. "This bird doesn’t talk," she told the owner. "Does he have a mirror in his cage?" he asked. "Parrots love mirrors. They see their reflection and start a conversation." The woman bought a mirror and left. The next day she returned; the bird still wasn’t talking. "How about a ladder? Parrots love ladders. A happy parrot is a talkative parrot." The woman bought a ladder and left. But the next day, she was back. "Does your parrot have a swing? No? Well, that’s the problem. Once he starts swinging, he’ll talk up a storm." The woman reluctantly bought a swing and left. When she walked into the store the next day, her countenance had changed. "The parrot died," she said. The pet storeowner was shocked. "I’m so sorry. Tell me, did he ever say a word?" he asked. "Yes, right before he died," the woman replied. "In a weak voice, he asked me, ’Don’t they sell any food at that pet store?’") Many of us are like this lady who had a faulty focus and needed to be refocus.

For example, we have all heard that Jesus is coming back. That should be the best news we will ever hear, but for many Christians, it is just a story. A story from a book that is more like fantasy than reality. A story they hear, but do not really believe. And because they do not believe it, they have missed the power they could otherwise have in Christ. I think the reason we are like that is because we have a problem with eyesight.. As humans, we are nearsighted. We focus on today because that is all we see. We live for today because today is here. And we forget about our eternities. Eternity is this vague thing that many of us do not understand, and none of us can see, so we put it on the back shelves of our minds, intending to get into it later. But the elusive “later” never arrives. Jesus is tarrying. He is delaying His return so that we might have every chance to get ready; to help and encourage others; and to build His kingdom. And we think we have all kinds of time. But, in reality – do we have all kinds of time? Turn with me to MATTHEW 24:42 says, “Therefore, keep watch – because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” The Bible is telling us that instead of living like the Second Coming will eventually happen ‘some day’, we should be living like it could happen today or tomorrow. The problem is the focus in our life. Many binoculars look to be fine, especially if they are a brand new pair. But the outside isn’t what matters with binoculars; it is the inside that counts. It could be out of focus, so no matter how good they appear to be, until they are put back in focus they are useless. Tonight, all of our lives have focus, most of the time our focus is where it should be, but from time to time we can get out of focus and need to have adjustments made in our lives. Today we will do some focus adjustment. What do we need in order to have a focus in our life as we continue our journey in this world?

Let’s read Colossians 3:1-4. From this text we can see principles to have a focused life:

A. THE FOUNDATION OF A FOCUSED LIFE

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ….”

Many people today founded their life to many foundations that this world offers such as: religion, doing good things, going to church regularly, etc. and yet no total commitment to Christ. But all of these are just like the man on Matthew 7:24-27, who builds his house on sands and after the storms came the house was destroyed. And that is the reason why many lives are being destroyed because the foundation of their life is placed on the standard of this world. From our text Paul clearly states the strong foundation of a focused life was Jesus who died for all of us on the cross, was buried and raised from the dead after three days. Jesus Christ is our strong foundation, our total commitment and adoration to Him, our passion to Him. Also what Paul said here his raising from the dead, his resurrection. Without the resurrection from the dead our faith is useless and our life is doomed and hopeless. Christ resurrection is the very reason why we need to have a focused life.