Colossians 3:1-4 (NKJV)
“An Old Challenge For A New Year”
Spurgeon said, “Paul’s marvelously rich expression indicates, that Christ is the source of our life. “You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.” That same voice which brought Lazarus out of the tomb raised us to newness of life. He is now the substance of our spiritual life. It is by his life that we live; he is in us, the hope of glory, the spring of our actions, the central thought which moves every other thought. Christ is the sustenance of our life. What can the Christian feed upon but Jesus’ flesh and blood? “This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.” O wayworn pilgrims in this wilderness of sin, you never get a morsel to satisfy the hunger of your spirits, except ye find it in him! Christ is the solace of our life. All our true joys come from him; and in times of trouble, his presence is our consolation. There is nothing worth living for but him; and his lovingkindness is better than life! Christ is the object of our life. As speeds the ship towards the port, so hastes the believer towards the haven of his Savior’s bosom. As flies the arrow to its goal, so flies the Christian towards the perfecting of his fellowship with Christ Jesus. As the soldier fights for his captain, and is crowned in his captain’s victory, so the believer contends for Christ, and gets his triumph out of the triumphs of his Master. “For him to live is Christ.” Christ is the exemplar of our life. Where there is the same life within, there will, there must be, to a great extent, the same developments without; and if we live in near fellowship with the Lord Jesus we shall grow like him. We shall set him before us as our Divine copy, and we shall seek to tread in his footsteps, until he shall become the crown of our life in glory. Oh! how safe, how honored, how happy is the Christian, since Christ is our life!”
Paul concludes chapter 2 with “if you died with Christ” where he is discussing our spiritual position! Paul teaches in Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:” We died to the penalty and the power of sin when Jesus died on the cross. But we must never forget that our Salvation was not free! Sin is expensive, but Jesus paid it all, Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” But because we have died with Christ, chapter 3 begins with we have also risen with Him! Paul says, “If then you were raised with Christ.” You see, we died to sin but were raised to life eternal! As we reflect on this past year and anticipate the new year to come, let us consider this text in that there are some things that need to be retained, there are some things that need to be released and yes there are some things that need to be remembered. I want to open these verses today and show you that God has a plan for your life; that He wants certain things from your life; and that He demands that you let some things go. Notice the challenges contained in these verses as I preach to you on the thought An Old Challenge For A New Year.
I. v. 1-2 THINGS TO BE RETAINED
- Paul tells us that we are “risen with Christ”. In this verse, Paul reminds us that we have also been raised up with Jesus. When He died, we died. When He rose from the dead, we rose from the dead as well! When He got up, every person who would ever believe in Him got up as well! We must never forget that we are dead to sin and alive to a new life in Jesus! This knowledge will help us live for His glory. Since we have been raised to a new life in Jesus, we are told to “seek those things which are above”. The verb “seek” is in the Present Tense, Imperative Mode. In other words, we are told to “continually be seeking those things which are above”. Verse 2 builds on that thought by telling us to “set” our “affections on things above, not on things on the earth.” We are told here to seek out heavenly things not earthly things. We are to set our minds on the things of God and on the things that bring glory to Him. In other words, we are to live like Jesus lived. God’s people are called upon to become heavenly minded. Philippians 4:8 NKJV Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things. This is possible because of our Lord’s presence in Heaven. From His place at the Father’s right hand, Jesus makes intercession for us and He gives us all that we need to live for Him in this world, Romans 8:31 asks, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”
II. v. 3 THINGS TO BE RELEASED
- As I cleaned out my office the other day, I came across several items that just had to go. I really didn’t have room for some of them; and some of that stuff was just plain trash! I had to take the trash straight out to the dumpster because if I left it in a bag for the custodian, I was afraid I might just go sifting back through it. Some old suit jackets that I could no longer fit went to Goodwill. And while I retained some old hard drives for the old server, other broken computer parts had to be released. In our spiritual lives, the same thing is true. Some things have to be let go! There are some things that try to attach themselves to our lives that are just plain trash. Those things need to be kicked to the curb, they need to be put in the dumpster! Paul just told us in verse 2 that we are to focus our thoughts on Heavenly things. If we allowed the mind to focus on this world, it would have no time to give itself to the things of God. In verse 3 Paul shares how the believer is able to stay focused on the things above: v. 3a Because You Died – We are reminded again that we have died to sin and to the influence of this world. One of the surest ways for the child of God to enjoy spiritual victory in his or her life is for that person to understand that they are crucified with Christ, Galatians 2:20. And now Paul tells us that we are “Risen with Christ”. You Died with Him and are Raised with Him - Romans 6:6-11 NKJV knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him... Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God... v. 3b Because You Are Hidden – When we were saved, we were given new life in Jesus. Because we are hidden in Jesus, we are in protective custody and none of the enemies of the soul can approach us, attack us or take us out of Jesus. You are Hidden in Him - Though it’s true that Christ is with us and within us while we’re on Earth, it also works in the other direction—we are seated with Him in Heaven: “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). Notice that it is written to believers ALIVE on Earth, (not future) tense, It’s ALREADY DONE! “You have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:22-23).
III. v. 4 THINGS TO BE REMEMBERED
- As I cleaned up my office, I discovered some things that caused me to take a trip down memory lane. I found pictures of my wife and children when we were very young. I found pictures of Dea. Zellars and Sis. Whitfield and Sis. Ola Clark and Sis. Martin and Bro. Oscar Jones and Dea. Richard Dunn. Several of our plaques and awards from the drill team were in there as well. It was a good opportunity for me to stop and remember the blessings of the Lord. This last verse of our text serve as reminder of some important spiritual truths today. We need to consider it before we leave these things behind. Paul closes this paragraph by reminding us that this world is not our end. Right now, every believer in this room battles the world, the flesh and the devil. Each of these enemies does everything they can to hinder us and to cause us to fail. One day, the battles will be over! This world will pass away Revelations 21:4, “I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away!” This flesh will be changed and remade in His image, 1 Corinthians 15:53 “This corruptible will put on incorruption and the mortal will put on immortality.” We will leave this world with its sin, its evil, its problems, its devil but Revelations 20:10 says “The devil, who deceived us, was cast into the Lake of Fire...” and we will go to land of perfection to bask in the glory of our Redeemer forever. Paul says, When Christ who is our life appears… You will Appear with Him in Glory! Revelation 21:4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
Thank you Pastor Alan for such a great study to edit! It was my honor to preach it! -Pastor Larry
