Be Killing Sin Series

ARE YOU READY? HOW MANY TIMES, do you think, have you been asked that question? Back in 1965, The Impressions released their album, People Get Ready, with its title song of the same name. It immediately rose to number three on the charts. So powerful was the song that it became a classic of the Rhythm and Blues genre.

Curtis Mayfield, a member of the group and the writer and composer of the song, was asked about its origins. He said, It “was taken from my church, or from the upbringing of messages from the church.” And, if you listen to the song, you can tell that. It talks about “a train a-comin’,” and it’s heaven-bound. “You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board. All you need is faith. You just thank the Lord.” But you’ve got to “get ready.” “People, get ready,” the song says, because here and there among us is the “hopeless sinner…whose chances grow thinner,” and “there’s no hiding place against the kingdom’s throne.”

The truth is, we may not be all that ready. When you think about it, in heaven we are to appear before a holy God, glorious in splendor and majesty, of whom Scripture says that He is “of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong” (Hab. 1:13). Shall He then look upon us? I think how much wrong I have done and how I yet entertain sin as though it were an honored guest not to be turned away, while in God’s eyes it is utterly repugnant, not to be tolerated but rather destroyed.

So, God works in us to wean us from sin and to get us ready for heaven, ready to be in His presence without being consumed by the fire of His holiness. But if we’re to be ready, we’ve got to get on board. We have to get ready ourselves for heaven. And here in Colossians 3, Paul tells us how. It is by (1) readying our minds, (2) readying our hearts, and (3) readying our hands. After all, these are the three most important things about us: how we think, what we love, and what we do.

I. BY READYING OUR MINDS FOR HEAVEN

So, the first thing we have to do to get ready for heaven is: We’ve got to ready our minds. We’ve got to attend to how we think. Paul says in verse 2, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” So, what does that mean? Two things: (1) We have to think about where Christ is, and (2) we have to think about where we will be.

So, where is Christ? According to verse 1, He is “seated at the right hand of God,” the place of authority and power. He is in heaven. And we need to remember that. We need to think about that. The Bible tells us—does it not?—to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is” (v. 1) and to “set [our] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (v. 2).

The poet Wordsworth has an oft quoted poem that begins, “The world is too much with us,” and in that poem he laments the fact that “we lay waste our powers” “getting and spending.” To put it differently, we squander our strength in pursuits unworthy of our highest goals. He says, “We have given our hearts away.”

So, we must recover them. And we begin by thinking about where Christ is. Why? Because that’s where we’re going to be.

And so, we are not only to think about where Christ is but also about where we will be. Look at verse 3. Paul says, “You have died.” You might say, “I didn’t know. Someone should have told me.” Well, I’m telling you. Now. You have died. The whole point of Christianity is identifying with Christ in His death and resurrection. Paul says in Romans 6, “We know that our old self was crucified with [Christ]” (v. 6), and in that same passage he says, “We have died with Christ” (v. 8), just like he does here in Colossians. And what he means is that we have died to sin. Paul says elsewhere that “those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24).

But that’s not the end of it. Paul also says, “If we have been united with [Christ] in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom. 6:5), which means, “If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him” (v. 8). Which is exactly what Paul says here in Colossians: “You have died, and.”—what? “you life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). And so, “when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (v. 4). What’s he saying? He’s saying, You will be in heaven. Give thought to that. Think about where Christ is, because that’s where you will be. Are you ready?