"The Resurrection Life: Setting, Shedding, Shining"
I’m going to ask you to think about your thoughts over the last week. And then I’m gonna ask you to think about your thoughts over the last week in the context of the last month.
What has occupied your thinking? What has been the main focus of your mental activity when you’ve not been concentrating on some task, or maybe some school assignment?
Of course we all have things to spend our mental energy on. For those with young children, there’s an awful lot of thought that goes into just keeping your children safe, from themselves, from their environment.
When our children were young, and then now as our grandchildren are young, we put a lot of thought into keeping them safe, and when we’re with them, realizing their tendency to accidentally harm themselves, we pay close attention.
For those in school, of course the subjects that are being studied take a great deal of our mental energy.
And for those of us who don’t have young kids, and who are not in school, there is just a lot to think about in terms of doing life. Groceries, rent, budgeting. There’s an awful lot to think about.
For those of us who struggle with depression, our thoughts can just be a jumble. A mess of regret, self-recrimination or self-judgment.
We rehearse the same old scripts—mistakes we made two, ten, twenty, thirty, forty years ago, things we said last week that we’re sure people are still thinking about, even though they’ve likely forgotten.
We get caught in little mental cul-de-sacs where every road loops back to “What’s wrong with me?”
And the worst part is, these thoughts don’t feel like lies. They feel like the most honest thing in the room. That’s what mild depression does—it doesn’t scream; it just hums a dull, believable soundtrack of defeat in the background.
You don’t always even notice it's there until someone asks, “What’s been on your mind lately?”
And you suddenly realize you’ve spent the better part of the week mentally replaying every failure you’ve ever had like it’s your greatest hits album.
We can find ourselves obsessing over our shortcomings, our bodies, our reputations; it’s like a prison...we worry about our bank accounts, our kids, our past, our social media feed—basically everything except Christ, seated at the right hand of God.
Setting Hearts/Minds On Things Above (Vv.1–2)
And that’s exactly why this passage in Colossians starts the way it does: “Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above… set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
Paul knows that our minds have a gravitational pull—not toward glory, but toward the dust. Toward self-condemnation, petty distractions, and emotional clutter.
So he points us upward, not in a “just think happy thoughts” way, but in a reality check way. A “Christ is your life now” way. We’re not being asked to ignore the hard things. We’re being invited to lift our gaze. Because your life is not defined by your regrets, your shortcomings, or your moods.
Your life is now hidden with Christ in God. And that’s a reality more solid than your feelings on any given Tuesday.
3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Wait! I died? How did I miss that? What is Paul referring to here? He’s referring to our baptism, which was a symbol of us dying with Christ (going under the water), and being raised to new life with Christ (coming up out of the water.
In fact this is far more than a symbol. It truly represents what happens to us when we come to Jesus. Believers have spiritually ascended with Christ and are enthroned with Jesus at the Father’s right hand too.
When Paul says “...For you died”, he is giving us the reason we are able to set our minds on things above and not on earthly things. No one truly has that ability apart from Christ.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Sing song: Jesus Christ is Lord; first with Col 3:3 up, then with all lyrics up)
You’ve often heard me say, if you’ve been around and you’ve been listening, that you as a believer are a beloved, adopted child of the Most High King of the Universe.
I really hope you believe that, or you are moving toward believing that. And if you question it, I hope that you search the Scriptures. Because if you do, you will discover that that very idea comes directly out of Scripture.
And the second part of verse 3, “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God”, is an important addition. It’s not just a poetic flourish—it’s a spiritual reality.
What it means is that the truest, most secure part of you is not on display for the world to poke at or pull apart. It’s protected, shielded, tucked safely into the heart of Christ.
So when those thoughts of self-condemnation rise up—when depression tries to narrate your life—you can remember: your true life is not the mess of feelings or failings you see in the mirror.
It’s the life that Christ holds for you, guards for you, and is even now renewing from the inside out. That hidden life is more real than your moods. And that’s good news on a bad day.
But how do we live this way? And what does it mean to live in a way that Jesus is firmly at the center of our heart, firmly at the center of our life?
All of us know the things that compete for the space that belongs only to Jesus.
All of us know what it means to have tried to find something or things that satisfy our deepest longing.
Some of us tried out all kinds of things to fill our souls, to satisfy our lusts, to help us to survive the pain and suffering of life.
But of course none of those things ever truly impacted our lives for good. None of those things touched our souls.
In fact all of the things that we tried before we came to Christ, had the impact of shrinking us.
The new experiences we wanted to have, the new drug we wanted to try, the repeated relationships that we entered into in the hopes that the other person would satisfy the very deep longing that we genuinely felt.
All of these things had the impact of lessening us, shrinking us. Our worlds, our inner lives adapted downward to whatever the new thing was, and those things we put such hope in ended up reducing us.
And, because we made by God, made for a relationship with Jesus Christ, none of those things satisfied us.
And most of those things harmed us. Some of us are still recovering from painful choices that we made in the past. Some of us are still trying to stop making those choices that harm us so gravely.
But then there's Jesus. And what is it about Jesus that is so very different from all the other things, no matter what they were, then we may have tried. All the other experiences that we may have sought?
Here's a quote from Pastor John Piper that I love: “The human soul was made to see Christ, to know Christ, to love Christ, to enjoy Christ, and to be enlarged by the greatness of the glory of Christ. Without this, our souls shrink. And little souls make little lusts that have great power. The soul, as it were, contracts or expands to encompass the magnitude or minuteness of its treasure. The human soul was made to see and savor the glory of Christ. Nothing else is big enough to enlarge the soul as God intended and make little lusts lose their power....Inside and outside the church, modern culture is drowning in a sea of triviality, pettiness, banality, and silliness....Therefore, the deepest cure to our pitiful addictions is to be staggered by the infinite, everlasting, unchanging, all-satisfying glory of Christ."
Your soul was made to behold and be filled by the greatness of Christ.
Paul would say, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). That’s not just a poetic phrase—it’s the deepest reality of the Christian life.
We weren’t created to run on ambition, approval, or adrenaline. We were made to run on Christ.
And not just to believe in him at a distance, but to be filled with him—to know him intimately, to experience his presence daily, and to live as people shaped by his love and power.
Rick Warren puts it this way: “You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.”
Our soul aches not because we’re missing something—we ache because we’re missing someone. Jesus isn’t just a part of your life; he is your life (Colossians 3:4).
When we behold him, we become like him. When we fill our hearts with him, the empty cravings lose their grip.
And here's the thing—if we don’t fill our souls with the greatness of Christ, they’ll shrink to fit something lesser.
And the lesser things? They never satisfy. They overpromise and underdeliver, every single time. But Christ? He’s the only treasure big enough to expand your soul and bring it to life.
Say to your neighbour: “you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God”. Amen
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Right now, your true life is hidden in Christ, but when Jesus returns, you'll be right there with him—shining bright, fully alive, sharing completely in his glory.
Again, when Jesus shows up in glory, it won’t just be his beauty that takes your breath away—you’ll be shining with him.
The hidden life you’ve been clinging to by faith will finally be fully seen, fully honoured, and fully home.
So don’t lose heart—your story isn’t finished, and the best chapter is still to come, when all that’s been planted in secret bursts into radiant bloom in the presence of Christ. Amen?
Shedding The Old Nature (Vv.5–9)
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
So yes, as Paul says we need to put to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature. Those are strong words.
But notice he doesn't say, put to sleep your earthly nature. Put it out for a nap. Try to tame it. Try to learn to accommodate it into your spiritual life in Christ.
He doesn't say, as I’ve heard from people who should have known way better, “Oh, your lifestyle, your body, your sexuality has nothing to do with your spirituality”.
That's about as dumb as dumb gets. Paul calls us to euthanize our earthly nature. To put it out to pasture. God wants us to die to all of the things that Paul lists there in verse 5.
None of those things are neutral to God. In fact to put a fine point on it, read what Paul says in verse 6:
6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
Do you want to be in the line of fire of God’s wrath? I don’t want to be anywhere near it.
Paul says God’s wrath is coming because of these things that wreck us—stuff like sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which he bluntly calls idolatry.
These aren't minor slip-ups; they're ways we try to replace God with things that could never fill the empty spaces inside us.
Paul’s advice? Kill off that stuff before it kills you. End it before it ends you. What do soldiers say in battle? “Kill or be killed”.
Those are the only two options on the battlefield. We are wise when we understand that there’s a battle for our souls going on.
Satan is not asleep. 1 Peter 5:8 says "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
James 4:7 says: "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
2 Corinthians 11:14 says: "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light."
And finally, Ephesians 6:11–12 says: "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
These passages emphasize vigilance, spiritual awareness, and proactive resistance against spiritual harm. Let's not take any of this lightly, OK, church?
7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
So if we're followers of Jesus, that means heaven can and ought to shape how we live right here, right now.
We're meant to focus on what's above—on Jesus’ rule and authority—not get stuck chasing after things like stuff we own or temporary pleasures.
And yes, it's true that our connection with Jesus and his heavenly reign isn't exactly obvious to everyone else yet. In fact, Paul says it's "hidden" right now.
But when Christ returns, this hidden reality will become clear to everyone.
In the meantime, Jesus is our life—he's actually living his life through us, making us more and more like him in the way we think, act, and love.
When I was in seminary, and I went to a good evangelical Anglican seminary, I always had a spiritual radar up.
Although they always meant well, some of the stuff they taught felt like a diversion from what was really important, it felt like a diversion from Jesus,
almost replacing a living relationship with Christ with theology and academia, as though those things hold the slightest candle to the person of Jesus. They don't.
Keep on guard. Read your Bible. Pray for discernment and wisdom.
Shining In Christlikeness And Unity (Vv.10–11)
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Scripture talks about the new creation, that we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. There is a sense in which that is deeply spiritual, transforming work that God has done in our inner roast being. That much is for sure.
But it’s also more than that, because we are whole beings, we are spirit soul mind and body. We are not wise when we separate those things.
The language Paul uses here is Future accomplished. Don’t do all these things that belong to the old nature, because you are not innocence of that old nature anymore.
Those things that you used to do, those things that we call sin, no longer belong in your life.
That is why, if you’re a genuine believer in Christ, when you do find yourself rereading old practises on old sins, you feel so gross. You feel so guilty. Because that is simply not where you belong nor is it what you belong in doing it.
So Paul says “since you have taken off your old self with it’s practises, and since you were put on the new self renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator, do not do those old things.
And it’s this factor… That we are made in the image of our creator God, and that we are born again into a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ… It is this that needs considering.
We are made in the image of our God. God does not lie. So we, Maid in his image, should not lie. God does not cheat, so we don’t belong cheating. God does not do evil, so we, again made in God‘s image, need not be doing evil.
A friend of a friend of mine, Kathy Kerr, recently posted this: “For the last number of years I have been attempting to live out the great commandment. It's amazing how God has put those steps in order for us. Love God and put Him first and foremost.
“Such a wonderful bond of love and joy results. Then, because of that deep and innocent and genuine love your outlook on others changes as you see them as His children for real, and you CHOOSE to love them too with that genuine love.
“And finally (hardest one for me so far) the transformation within yourself when you realize that you are also one of God's children, here among your siblings, and begin to see yourself as loved by God in that deep and genuine way.
“And realize what it must have meant to send His son. Thanks Lord Jesus for showing us how to live and how to love properly”
When you’ve been through deep hurt, it’s easy for your soul to feel small, guarded, or even broken. The Christian perspective is that your soul was made for something bigger—to see and know Jesus, to be deeply loved by Him, and to feel safe and whole in His presence.
Without that connection, our souls try to survive by clinging to things that numb the pain—things that might feel powerful in the moment but leave us emptier in the end. But when we begin to experience the beauty, kindness, and strength of Christ, our hearts can start to open up again.
Healing comes not by trying harder, but by being overwhelmed—in the most life-giving way—by a love bigger than all the pain we've carried.
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, if your soul’s been shrinking under the weight of regret, distraction, or cheap substitutes—take heart.
You died, and your real life is now hidden with Christ in God. So set your mind where your Saviour is.
It’s time to stop rummaging through the attic of your old life and start walking in the sunlight of your new one—shining, steady, and held fast in Jesus. Can you say Amen? Amen. Even so, Lord Jesus, come.
