It's All About Jesus (Colossians 3) Series

It’s all about Jesus: Colossians 3

Scott Bayles, pastor

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 11/6/2016

For the last couple of weeks we’ve been making our way through the book of Colossians, which is all about Jesus. In the first chapter Paul spotlights Jesus with a poetic declaration of Christ’s supremacy. He states definitively that Jesus is the image of the invisible God—that all things were created by Christ and for Christ, that he is the head of the church, and our only means of reconciling our relationship with God. In the second chapter, Paul then assures us that we can find fulfillment in Jesus. In other words, we have everything when we have Jesus.

As Paul moves into the third chapter, he begins to sketch out what the All-About-Jesus life looks like. Something to keep in mind is that the pagan religions of Paul’s day said little or nothing about personal morality or lifestyle. A worshipper could bow before an idol, put his offering on the altar, and then go back to living his life however he saw fit. What a person believed had no direct relationship with how he or she behaved.

But the Christ-centered life brought a whole new concept to pagan society: what we believe ought to dramatically impact how we behave. If we are committed to Jesus and connected to Jesus, then Jesus is going to influence how we live our lives.

So if you have a Bible or an app on your phone, open it up to Colossians 3. Here Paul highlights three areas of our personal lives that will be touched and hopefully changed by Jesus. First, is our focus.

• OUR FOCUS

Paul starts off talking about our focus as follower of Christ. He writes, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4 NIV).

First, Paul says that because we’ve got this new life in Jesus, we ought to “set our hearts on things above.” We know what it means to have our hearts set on something, don’t we? It means having a strong desire and expectation for something.

We get our hearts set on all kinds of things, don’t we? Maybe you’ve got your heart set on some dream vacation or a new car. Or maybe you’ve got your heart set on a certain person and you’re just hoping that he or she notices you and that person is all you can think about. You get what the wise old owl in Bambi called twitterpated. Earlier this week, my son had his heart set on going to see the new Marvel movie, Doctor Strange. He wanted to watch all the trailers for it. He wanted to go see it on opening night. Then he got so bummed out when I told him that Ashley and needed to preview it first and he was going to have to wait. So we know what it’s like to have our hearts set on something.

But then Paul throws out this similar but slightly different concept. He says, “Set your minds on things above…” The word translated mind in the New Testament doesn’t simply refer to our brain or even our thoughts; rather, it includes our volition, our will. So it’s actually very similar to our phrase “set your mind to it.” We tell our kids “You can do anything if you really set your mind to it.” In other words, we’re talking about focused determination and hard work.

So when we put these two concepts together Paul is saying that you’ve got to have desire and determination. Where should our hearts and minds be set? “On things above, where Christ is” and where we will be when Christ comes again, Paul says. In other words, we’re talking about heaven! Our affections and aspirations should be set on heaven. Not because of the place, but the people—because that’s where Jesus is.

Far too many of us, myself included, are so focused on earthly things, rather than things above that we hardly give heaven a thought. Are you excited about heaven? Do you have your heart set on spending eternity with Jesus? Are you determined to get there?

I’m reminded of a Sunday School teacher who just finished a lesson all about Heaven, then asked her students, “How many of you want to go to Heaven?” Of course, everyone in the class raised their hands… except for one little boy. “William,” she asked, “don’t you want to go to Heaven someday?” Suddenly perking-up, the boy replied, “Oh yes ma’am. Someday. I just thought you were taking up a load right now!”