A Whole New You Series

A Whole New You

Colossians 3:1-4

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

Intro: In the preceding chapters, Paul has refuted both the doctrinal and practical fallacies espoused by the false teachers and pagan zealots roaming about in the city of Colossae. He has challenged the Christians to stand firm in their faith understanding that in Christ they have a complete and thoroughly life changing salvation.

It should be noted that there is a difference between false asceticism and “true asceticism”. False asceticism is a fleshly gratification in the rigors toward the body because of pride and superiority. True asceticism is that the Christian life is other worldly. We are to find inspiration to maintain a transformed experience while still a part of this world. We don’t do this to escape. Rather, we are to have the same attitude as that Christ Jesus (Ph. 2:5) – While we are here for only a short while, we are to be in the world but not of the world.

After a lengthy defense of the authenticity of Christ, beginning in chapter 3, Paul is shifts gears and turns his focus from the outward evidence that supports the credibility of Christ to the inward reality that Christ has changed a life. Paul informs the Colossian Christians that if they have an authentic faith, then it ought to manifest itself in Christ-likeness.

Note: Paul exhorts his readers to give an outward expression of an inward connection. If your faith is genuine, then your life ought to show it – because faith without works is dead.

Note: The Christian life is a life “hid with Christ in God.” Nonetheless, it is also a life that is visibly lived out before others. Thus, the evidence of Christ in you is Christ showing through you.

Quote: Before a Christian can reach the world, he first must leave it. McArthur

I A New Motivation

Verse: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ…

Word: since – in view of the fact;

Idea: By grace through faith, everyone who has believed in Christ has a complete salvation, a complete forgiveness, and a complete victory over sin, death, and the devil. It is because of this complete triumph that everyone who calls upon the Lord Jesus as their Savior ought to live a life that reflects the nature and person of Jesus Christ.

Word: raised up (sounagerthate) raised up together. A complete action of being co-resurrected w/ Christ.

Idea: In being resurrected with Christ, I have been set free from the rule and reign of sin and death and have been made more than a conqueror in His name.

Verse: There is now no condemnation to those who a found in Christ Jesus. Rm. 8:1

Song: I’m my beloved’s and He is mine, His banner over me is love.

II A New Focus

Verse: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Note: Col. 2:20 tells us what to do if we have died with Christ – we are to separate ourselves from this patterns of this world and we are to be transformed to the things of God’s realm (Rm. 21:1-2)

Col. 3:1 tells us what to do if we are raised up with Christ – we are to keep seeking things above which point to the things that belong to the resurrection life.

Note: We must remember that we are not immune to the temporal or material, therefore we must seek first the kingdom of God. Seek is an active (subject produces the action) indicative (mood of certainty – used to declare that something is true) or imperative (mood of volition or will).

Verse: Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Mt. 6:33

Word: set (zeteo) to seek continually; a continual and habitual action of setting something as the object of your worship; to set or establish as one’s top priority, desire, and ambition.

Quote: To seek things above is to see that our interests are centered in Christ, that our attitudes, our ambitions, and our whole outlook on life are molded by our relations to Him. Vaughn

Word: things above (ano) upward things; the treasures of heaven; an emphatic emphasis to contrast the things of God versus the things of this world. We are to set our focus and desires upon heavenly or spiritual things.