INTRO.- ILL.- I am reminded of the old story about the funeral of the unsavory character who had never been to church in his life. He had led a very questionable life, meaning he’d done about anything and everything a person could think of and it wasn’t good. The service was being conducted by a minister who’d never heard of him.
The preacher got carried away by the occasion, as some preachers do, and started to pour on the praise for the deceased. After 15 minutes of describing the man as a devoted husband, father, all-around good guy, his widow nudged her young son and whispered to him, “Go up there and make sure that’s your daddy he’s talking about.”
All of us have probably attended a funeral similar to that. Everybody knows, of course, that you’re supposed to speak kindly of the deceased regardless of the life they’ve lived.
I’d have a few strange funerals in my time that I wasn’t always exactly sure what to say.
ILL.- I spoke at a funeral for a young girl who had been murdered. I never knew the girl. She was a friend to some people in the church where I served.
Another time the local funeral director called me and wanted to know if I would speak at a funeral for a young single man in his 40’s. I said I would and after going to visit at the funeral home I discovered that the young man had died of AIDS.
What do you say about a person who dies of AIDS? In all funerals I point the living to the Lord. I remind people that a memorial service is for them and I always try to help them by pointing to the Lord who is only one who can help us in life or death.
Another time I had a memorial service for the wife of our local UPS driver. He lived in another town about 30 miles away but made his deliveries in our town. His young wife passed away from cancer. And apparently, since he and his wife didn’t attend church anywhere, he asked me to speak at her memorial service, which was held at the Cedar Lake near Carbondale, IL. I read the 23rd Psalm and spoke from that text about the Lord’s care for us during times of loss, etc.
As soon as I finished, the young husband said, “God d... cancer to hell!” Wow! I was shocked. I think most people were shocked. He was very angry that cancer had taken his wife and the mother of his young children, who were probably 8 to 10 years of age.
What could I say? I said nothing. He was, however, very gracious to me after the service. There was no music and the only prayer was what I offered.
Another time I had the funeral for a young married couple who lost their only son. He was only three and a half years old. They had been taking him to a local doctor who told them he didn’t know what was wrong with him. He advised them to take him to the University Medical Center in Columbia, MO. They did but the little boy died in a day or two. The young father had an uncle in our church who was deacon so they asked me to speak at the boy’s funeral.
I spoke from II Sam. 12:23 when David’s child died. David said to his servants, “But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."
I called on that young couple many times and encouraged them to give their lives to Christ. I told them that they could eventually see their child again. They did give their lives to Christ and I baptized them both into Christ. And someday they will see him again.
Our only hope is in Christ. Someone well said, “Without Christ, life is a hopeless end. With Christ, it is an endless hope.”
PROP.- In our text, Paul speaks of the new life that we have in Christ. He looks at it from three different perspectives: past, present and future.
1- A past experience
2- A present enjoyment
3- A future ecstasy
I. A PAST EXPERIENCE
Col. 3:1 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ…” V. 3 “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
You died and you have been raised. What is Paul talking about?
ILL.- A father was in church with three of his young children, including his five year old daughter. As was customary, he sat in the very front row so that the children could properly witness the service.
During this particular service, the minister was performing the baptism of a tiny infant. The little five year-old girl was taken by this, observing that he was saying something and pouring water over the infant’s head.
With a quizzical look on her face, the little girl turned to her father and asked: "Daddy, why is he brainwashing that baby?"
ILL.- A little son of a Baptist minister was in church one morning, when he saw for the first time baptism by immersion. He was greatly interested in it, and the next morning proceeded to baptize his three cats in the bathtub!
The first kitten bore it very well, and so did the young cat, but the old family cat rebelled. It struggled with him, clawed and tore him, and got away. With considerable effort he caught it again and proceeded with the ceremony. But the cat acted worse than ever. Finally, after barely getting her splattered with water, he dropped her on the floor in disgust and said: “Fine, be an Atheist!”
We died and were raised. Baptism is a death and resurrection. It symbolizes the death and resurrection of Christ and we died in baptism and are raised to a new life.
Rom. 6:3-4 “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.”
Col. 2:12 “Having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
The past experience that Paul is talking about is our baptism into Christ.
ILL.- Commentator William Barclay said, “In baptism the Christian dies and rises again. As the waters close over him, it is as if he was buried in death; as he emerges from the water, it is like being resurrected into a new life. Now, if that is so, the Christian cannot rise from baptism the same man as he went down into baptism; there must be a difference…”
AND THERE IS A DIFFERENCE! We may not feel that difference or recognize that difference immediately but there is a difference because God said so!
ILL.- Alger Fitch, one time professor at the Pacific Christian College in Fullerton, CA, said, “If baptism could talk (and it can!), it would say, “I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in the blood atonement. I believe in the forgiveness of sins. I believe in the resurrection…”
Our baptism – a past experience and needs to become a present experience for millions of others!
II. A PRESENT ENJOYMENT
Col. 3:1-2 “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.”
Set your hearts on things above. Set your minds on things above. A present enjoyment or it should be!
The Christian life should be a present enjoyment or at least, a part of it.
ILL.- A civilian defense official, drawing up plans for space in his city in case of a bomb attack, asked the pastor of a large church how many people could sleep in the church buildings. “I don’t know,” replied the pastor, “but we sleep 1400 every Sunday morning.”
ILL.- A mother often spoke to her little girl about Dr. Harry A. Ironside, the late pastor of the Moody Memorial Church, Chicago. She told the little girl that he was a great preacher.
One day the little girl attended one of the preaching services of Dr. Ironside. He spoke simply, as he always did. As they left the church, the little girl said to her mother, “Mother, I thought you said that Dr. Ironside is a great preacher. Why, Mother, he’s not a great preacher! I understood everything he said.”
In relating this story afterward, Dr. Ironside said, “That was the greatest compliment ever paid me!”
I would think if anybody was going to have any present enjoyment in church that they would have to understand the sermon. That was a great compliment!
ILL.- “How long shall I preach?” said the guest preacher at the Yale Chapel to President Hadley. “Well, I might suggest,” said Hadley, “that down here at Yale no souls are saved after the first twenty minutes.”
Is church a present enjoyment for you? You may not want to answer that question.
I think we all can make it a more enjoyable experience by preparing our own hearts and minds through prayer, etc. And by coming with the spirit of expectation.
ILL.- A rancher asked the district superintendent to assign a pastor to his community. “How big a man do you want?” asked the superintendent.
“Well, elder,” the wiry man replied, “we’re not overly particular, but when he’s on his knees, we’d like to have him reach Heaven.”
Is your prayer time or devotional time a present enjoyment? It should be. It should be somewhat heavenly. If the Christian life is not something of an enjoyment then it may be that our devotional life is not. We all need to set our hearts and minds on those things that are above. And doing this daily will make all the difference in the world in our daily lives.
ILL.- Luther once said: “I am so busy now that I find if I do not spend two or three hours each day in prayer, I cannot get through the day. If I should neglect prayer but a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith.”
While few of us would spend 2 or 3 hours a day in private prayer, certainly prayer is a must in order to live a richer, fuller, more enjoyable Christian life. I personally find talking to the Lord to be one of the best times of my day.
ILL.- Dwight L. Moody used to say, “the only way to keep a broken vessel full is to keep it always under the tap.” Perhaps we all would find more present enjoyment in this life if we spent more time with the Lord.
III. A FUTURE ECSTASY
Col. 3:4 “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
A future ecstasy – Christ will appear and then we shall appear.
ILL.- A Pittsburgh managing editor sent a cub reporter to cover a mine disaster near Cokeville, some distance from Pittsburgh. The young man arrived at the scene, dallied around until late at night and started to wire his story in as follows: “Cokeville, Pennsylvania. — God sits tonight on the hills around Cokeville —”
The night editor sent him this message: “Never mind mine disaster. Interview God. Get pictures.”
Wouldn’t it be great if people were truly that interested in seeing God? And/or Christ?
ILL.- Dwight L. Moody says: “The devil does not want us to see this truth concerning the return of the Lord, for nothing would wake up the Church so much. The moment a person takes hold of the truth that Jesus Christ is coming back again to receive His friends to Himself, this world loses its hold upon him. Gas stocks, stocks in bank and in railroads are of much less consequence. The heart is free to look for the blessed appearing of our Lord, who at his coming will take us into his blessed kingdom.”
ILL.- Evangelist Billy Graham says: “One of the best ways to get rid of discouragement is to remember that Christ is coming again. The most thrilling, glorious truth in all the world is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
When we look around and see pessimism on every side, we should remember the Bible is the only Book in the world that predicts the future. The Bible is more modern than tomorrow morning’s newspaper.
“The Bible accurately foretells the future, and it says that the consummation of all things shall be the coming again of Jesus Christ to this earth. If your life is dismal, depressed, and gloomy today, Christ can turn those dark clouds inside out. The sunlight of His love can still shine into the darkest part of your life.”
ILL.- Of the 260 chapters in the entire New Testament, there are 318 references to the Second Coming, or one out of 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event.
When Christ appears, we shall appear with Him in glory.
CONCLUSION----------------------------
ILL.- Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family fame wrote one time, “My aunt, Naomi Dobson, wrote me shortly before her death in 1978. She wrote, ‘It seems like every day another of my close friends either passes away or is afflicted with a terrible disease.’
Dobson said, “Obviously, she was in that final phase of her generation. Now she is also gone.” Dobson went on to say, “I’m suggesting that we stop and consider the brevity of our years on earth, perhaps finding new motivation to preserve the values that will endure…”
Mark 13:31 “Heaven and earth will pass away but my word will never pass away.”
What does this mean? It means that all of our earthly treasures will be gone: houses, land, cars, clothes, toys, trinkets, etc. but the only that will last is our faith in Christ. What Jesus said is true. He is the Savior. He is eternal and He alone gives us that which is eternal.
We must cling to the eternal! We must cling to Him! Since you have been raised with Christ seek those things that are above.
