Hidden… With… Christ… In… God.
Colossians 3:3
Colossians 3:3KJV ”For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.“
Several years ago, a pastor made appointment
to see me. The pastor told me he had struggled for 13 years in his Christian experience, going through one trial after another.
During his devotions, one day, he read, Colossians 3:3 and he wanted to know how his life could be hidden in Jesus Christ.
I’ll never forget, I ask this pastor to read the passage out loud, and very slowly, which he did. Again, he asked me, that’s what I wanna talk to you about. I think that is the secret. How do I do that? I ask him to read it again, even slower.
For… You… Died… And… Your… Life… Is… Now… Hidden… With… Christ… In… God.
That day, suddenly the light came on, and he realized he had already died 13 years later. This dear Pastor had been desperately trying to become something he already is.
Listen to, Colossians 3:3TPT ”Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ.“
Over the years, I have had several people try to convince me that this is only a positional truth and that it is not something we can experience in our daily lives.
I rebuttal, is our position in Jesus Christ only theological, just a nice thing to know, but having no practical relevance to our lives?
Nonsense!
Our position in Jesus Christ is the basis for our hope and the sole prerequisite to living by faith.
This evening I want us to discover we are hidden... Let’s look at 10 verses of scriptures to put verse 3 in context:
Colossians 3:1-10NKJV ”If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,“
I love verse 10, “As I walk as a new man, I am renewed in knowledge; I begin to see farther as I continue to grow! I see and appreciate my new identity. P.H
Colossians 3:1–10, contain several statements describing the believers position in Jesus Christ.
Colossians 3:1-2 We are dead. Verse 9, We have taken off the old self. Verse 10, we put on the new self. Verse 1 and 3, we have been raised with Christ, and we are hidden with Jesus Christ, who is now seated at the right hand of God.
Ephesians 2:6NIV And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
Hear me, All of this is already true, because we are in Jesus Christ. We cannot do for ourselves what Jesus has already done for us.
“I am convinced that many Christians are like the pastor who desperately tried to become something he already was.” P.H
In order to live a fruitful Christian life. By faith, we must first believe what Jesus Christ has already done this for us, and then walk accordingly.
Listen, it is not our believing that makes it true –that is new age or magic thinking. P.H
A Christian says, “It is true, because God’s word says it, therefore; I believe it.”
When we begin to do this, the reality of the truth works out in our experience, and we become what we already are, by God‘s grace.
Still, ours is not a passive role. For this truth to workout in our experience, there are things we must do.
Colossians 3 include several imperative statements, indicating what we must do, now that we are in Christ.
Verse 1, set our hearts and minds on the things above. This is an allegory, similar to, Hebrews 12.2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfected of our faith.
Listen, this is not a pie in the sky unreality.
According to John 14:6, Jesus is the truth, and he is the only valid object of our faith.
Therefore, We are setting our minds on the truth from above, rather than the lies from the pit. P.H
Colossians 2.8 warns us, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on the human tradition, and the basic principles of this world, rather than on Jesus Christ.
The world system we were raised in taught relative truth. Self-reliance, and only that which can be perceived through the natural is real.
2 Corinthians 4:18, teaches us that the unseen world is more real than the seen world.
18... -That which is seen is only temporal, while that which is unseen is eternal.
We must learn to walk by faith, and not by sight, 2 Corinthians 5:7.
Then we are to put to death the practices that belong to our earthly nature, Colossians 3.5. We are to rid ourselves of behavior that characterized who we were before Christ, Colossians, 3.9.
The law of sin is still strong and appealing but because of our position in Christ, we can rid ourselves of sinful behavior and habits.
Putting to death is to render inoperative, the power of sin – something we cannot do in the flesh, only through Jesus Christ.
In one sense, there is no painless way to die.
Paul endured tremendous hardship in making know the truth we are speaking about.
So that we do not lose heart, he wrote in,
2 Corinthians 4.7–11NKJV ”But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 ”persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.“
Let me just tell you about the total sufficiency of God.
The treasure is Christ Jesus in us, but our bodies are as jars of clay.
In the apostle Paul’s day, it was customary to conceal treasure in clay jars which had little value or beauty, and did not attract the attention to their precious contents.
The idea is that the insufficiency of man reveals the total sufficiency of God! P.H
The Apostle Paul had a thorn in his flesh. It’s been debated what that thorn was. So hear God’s response to Paul.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Here’s my profession, I, Howard Arnold Strickland shall delight insults, weaknesses, persecution, For when I (Howard) am weak, then I am strong!
Listen church, The frailty of the clay jars of our humanity is plainly seen in the constant hardships and persecutions we faced daily, for the sake of the gospel.
In that sense, we enter into Christ suffering, but the power of God is revealed in our lives.
-Truly, that is the treasure!
The fact is, I’ve known people who were very smart, some have great jobs. I’ve known people who were gifted in sports, hobbies, but they never feel like they measure up.
They say things like, I hope I don’t get fired, or am I still on the team? They self sabotage.
Over the years, I have been intrigued by the tremendous insecurities, some people live with. I have seen five talented star players on God‘s team who constantly struggle with insecurity.
They fear the day, when they be will be cut from the team, they are never sure they made it.
Maybe they suspect that they got on the team because of how well they played.
Now they think other young, stronger, more gifted players, will someday take their place.
On the other hand, I have seen single- talented, less gifted people, excited about the game and thrilled that they are on the team.
They look forward with great anticipation to the chance to play, even though they won’t be the star.
These know that they’re not on the team because they are a great star, but because the coach chose them.
The coach, (Jesus) traded our old, tattered uniforms and clothes, for a new one!
Dear Christian, dear believer, you are already on the team. Your name is on the roster, It’s called the lambs book of life.
Revelation 13:8-10 ”Everyone on earth will worship the wild beast—those whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of the Life of the Lamb who was slain. 9 If anyone has been given ears to hear, he’d better listen! 10 For the one who leads others into captivity, into captivity he goes. The one who kills others by the sword, by the sword he will be put to death. This is a call for the endurance and faithfulness of the holy believers.“
You will not endure if you refuse to believe Jesus is that great! Jesus is greater than….!
Testimony, In all my days, 62 years, Ive met a lot of dried-up christians. These know not what they believe. P.H
Again, Colossians 3:3-4AMP ”For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.“
Here is the reality, your life is hidden. And when Jesus appears you will also appear with Him in glory!
I would love for us to slowly read and hear these words:
The Wheat of Heaven Taken from the stalk of Calvary Placed within the dark, cold earth Silent lies the Wheat of heaven. There to wait resurrection birth, Left alone in fragrant seed coat, Till the time had come to pass. It would soon give way to victory. Life eternal sprang forth at last. When death’s grip no longer held Him, Wakened by the Spirit’s power Setting free the Shoot of Jesse, This would be salvation’s hour. He had died upon that hillside, Buried in a borrowed grave, Now he lives in promised victory, Shared with those He came to save. It was said that one should perish. That a nation might survive. Through the sacrifice of Jesus. All God’s seedlings leapt alive. Oh the harvest of His promise, Through the life of One who died, We the church will grow victorious, Watered by the tears supplied. Bearing fruit in ordered fashion, We the crop of Christ begun
As we hold our life connection, To our Source God’s Risen Son. --Reuben E. Dunckel, Jr.
For… You… Died… And… Your… Life… Is… Now… Hidden… With… Christ… In… God.
