Head In The Clouds

Head in the Clouds

Colossians 3:1-11

INTRODUCTION... Where’d that phrase come from? (www.idiomsite.com)

1) Back to square one: Meaning back to the beginning this idiom was first heard on football radio commentaries during games. Football isn’t easy to commentate on the radio so they had the idea of splitting up the field into notional numbered squares so that listeners could be told where the ball was. Whenever the game restarted after a break it was ’back to square one’.

2) Sleep Tight : Sleep tight which means ’sleep well’ is a term which comes from how beds were made. Beds used to be made of ropes and would often slack and become loose which made sleeping very uncomfortable. So, in order to sleep well you had to make the ropes as tight as possible before falling asleep.

3) Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth: When given something don’t be ungrateful. By counting the teeth you can tell the age of a horse. Checking whether a present of a horse was old would be considered impolite.

What about these two phrases, “Mind in the Gutter” and “Head in the clouds.” We of course know that the phrase ’mind in the gutter’ means that the person is thinking about bad things and a person with their ’head in the clouds’ means they are daydreaming . I want to give you a new way to think of ’your head in the clouds’ this morning. It comes from Colossians 3:1-11.

READ COLOSSIANS 3:1-11

I. OUR IDENTITY

The Apostle Paul makes it quite clear in verse one that the people he is speaking to are different. What is different about them? What experience have they had that has set them apart? Paul tells the Colossians and he tells us as well that we have been ’raised with Christ.’ What does that mean? Does it mean that what follows applies to people who grew up in Jesus’ hometown? Does it mean that what follows applies to people who grew up in the church and have been raised in a Christian home? What does it mean to be ’raised with Christ?’

Romans 6:3-5 tells us exactly what Paul means, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into

Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.” Those who have been raised with Christ are those that have been baptized. Those who have been raised with Christ are those that have made a lifetime commitment to Jesus. The Colossians knew what he meant as well. They may not have read the Roman letter, but in Colossians 2:12, Paul had already said, “[you have] been buried with him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.” Paul is speaking to those Colossians that had made a commitment of faith to God.

You, as a Christian, are set apart as God’s children and you are different from the world and the people in the world... or we should be. That is actually what Paul is talking about in the rest of the passage. Verse 1 points out to them and to us that we are different and are set apart by God as HIs children through our faith in Jesus Christ. This means we are to be different in some very important ways.

ILLUSTRATION... Quote from Jerry Vines, http://elbourne.org/sermons/index.mv?illustration+2567

“Our churches are in serious trouble today. There is virtually no difference between the average church member and the person who is not a Christian. God meant for the Christian to be different, to live a different kind of life, and to be on a different moral level from those who are not Christians. And yet, there is practically no difference in lifestyle.”

The Apostle Paul discusses two subjects in the rest of the passage. He describes a person with their ’mind in the gutter’ and the person with their ’head in the clouds.’

II. MIND IN THE GUTTER

The umbrella statement for those things that qualify to be in the ’gutter’ are “earthly things” in verse 2 and “the earthly nature” in verse 5. What are they? What are the earthly things that can infiltrate our thoughts and minds and draw us away from God?

1) Sexual immorality, impurity, and lust = The mind of a person can be caught up in with sex in such a way that it makes sex a sin. One of the greatest tragedies in our world is the exploitation of sex in our culture and the demonizing of sex in the church. Sex is not a sin, but the way in which our culture views sex and uses it most of the time is a sin. Even for a Christian, the world’s view of sex and use of it can become common in life and in our minds. In what ways does our world promote an unhealthy view of sex?