Heaven Or Earth Bound?

Title: Heaven or Earth Bound?

Text:

NAS Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Introduction

An American Indian tells about a farmer who found an eagle’s egg and put it into the nest of a farm chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.

All its life, the eagle, thinking it was a chicken, did what the chickens did. It scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. It clucked and cackled. And it flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that’s how farm chickens were supposed to fly.

Years passed. And the eagle grew very old. One day, it saw a magnificent bird far above in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.

"What a beautiful bird!" said the eagle to its neighbour. "What is it?"

"That’s an eagle - the chief of the birds," the neighbour clucked. "But don’t give it a second thought. You could never be like him."

So the eagle never gave it a second thought and it died thinking it was a farm chicken.

The Apostle Paul said to the Colossians in Chapter 3, if you have been raised up with Christ. The word “if” actually means “since”. It is a fact that Christians have been raised up with Christ to a new life.

In Ephesians Chapter 2, it says that we are seated in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus. The same truth is reflected here “If you have been raised up with Christ”

Before you became a believer, you were dead in sins. You were heading towards hell. You were an enemy of God. You belong to the Kingdom of Darkness.

But now, after becoming a believer, you have been given a new status. You are now a child of God. You have been forgiven. You are dead to sin and death and have been given a new life. God has made you a new creation. You should be like an eagle soaring in the heavenly places.

Sadly, many believers are not living life consistent to the new status that we have received. Just like the eagle growing up in a chicken yard, not knowing that it was created for the skies, it remained earth bound.

This morning I like to ask you the question, “Are you heaven or earth bound?”

Are you preparing yourself to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven? Or are you so earth bound, that the majority of your time and energy is expended on earthly concerns which are of no eternal value?

Paul was concern that the Colossians become earth bound believers. In Chapter Three of Colossians, he gave them practical instructions of how they should conduct their life here on earth.

If you are heaven bound,

1. Your heart’s affection must be set fully upon Jesus

The NIV translation says

“set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”

Paul told the Colossians, that if they are heaven bound, then their heart’s affection must be set fully upon Jesus. It must be set continuously upon Jesus.

The needle of a compass will always point towards North. Like the compass, the believer’s affection must always be pointed to Jesus Christ. He is always preoccupied with the One who reigns in Heaven.

This means that Christ must come first in your life. All other areas of our life must revolve around Jesus. Just as the Sun is the centre of the solar system, the Son, Jesus must be the centre of the believer’s life. Chaos sets in when the Son is displaced from the centre of your life.

When Chinese immigrants came to Singapore, to work they often leave the families in China. While working here, their hearts were still in China with their families. They worked hard with the hope of returning back to their home land with a sufficient amount of money for their family to live in comfort.

It is the same for believers. Though at this moment, our physical bodies are earth bound for the moment; our hearts should be set towards heaven. Our eyes should be fixed continuously on Jesus Christ and our hearts longing for our king.

Matt 6: 33