March 28, 2002 Colossians 3:1-4
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Martin Luther once challenged one of his students by saying, “I’ll get you a new horse and carriage if you can pray the Lord’s Prayer and concentrate on every phrase without losing your train of thought.” The young man thought, “no problem.” After he had prayed the prayer he however confessed to Luther, “all I could think about was the horse and carriage.” As much as he tried to concentrate on the Lord’s Prayer, his mind was drawn elsewhere.
Have you ever had nights like that - where you just can’t take your mind off of something? Maybe it was an upcoming surgery, or a job interview, or a big game - something that you just couldn’t get your mind off of. Unfortunately, when we get our minds stuck on things like that, they’re usually things we don’t want to think about or shouldn’t be thinking about. We know we shouldn’t worry about them, but sometimes we just can’t seem to stop worrying about it.
On this Easter Sunday, Paul wants you to take your mind off of the meal you are preparing for lunch, the new dress you’re wearing, or the guests you’ll be having over - clear your head of all of this earthly stuff - and concentrate on something better. Paul says that he wants you to
Set Your Minds on Things Above
I. Since you have been raised with Christ
This is a day that we set aside to celebrate and think about one thing - the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our songs, liturgy, and everything in the service revolves around the resurrection. Usually, when you think about the resurrection - you naturally think about how Jesus rose from the dead three days after being crucified, or about the fact that we too will rise from the dead some day. But this text from Paul starts out differently. Listen to the first verse again. Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Paul talks about the resurrection in the PAST tense - as if it already happened and the Colossians were already raised from the dead. He also says, you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
What does this mean? What is he talking about? It makes you wonder - is this like one of those “Left Behind” movies, did I miss something? Was I left behind? Not at all. You see, the Bible talks about TWO resurrections - a spiritual resurrection and a physical resurrection. Paul was talking about the SPIRITUAL one. In Paul’s mind, the Colossians already had died and been raised from the dead! How so? Paul explains in Romans chapter 6 - don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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. Do you see the importance that Paul put on baptism? He told the Romans that their baptism intimately connected them with Christ - so that when they were baptized they were actually nailed to the cross with Jesus and buried with him. All of their sins were buried in the tomb of Joseph. Isn’t that an interesting concept? A wonderful one? God looks at you as already having been crucified - punished - and buried - 2,000 years ago.
But that’s not where it ends. If they were buried with Christ - then they were also raised with Christ. It means that a part of them has already been raised and ascended into heaven - since Christ had ascended into heaven. As far as God is concerned, a part of you is already in heaven - since Christ is in heaven. Since that was the case - since they were so intimately connected with Christ, they should then naturally set their hearts and minds on things above. The closest illustration I can get to this is that of marriage. God says that when you get married, the two become one. When your spouse has a bad day, you have a bad day. When your spouse is happy, you are happy. And when you are apart from each other, your mind is drawn to when you can be together again.
The funny thing about marriage is that you grow CLOSER when you go through trials together. My wife and I still laugh (now) about the time we went camping and the lantern didn’t work as we were trying to set up our tent in the dark, the kids were crying, and our dog ran away. As trying as it was, it drew us closer together. In your baptism you also were connected with Christ during some trying times. Spiritually, you were put to death with Christ and raised with Christ. What could be more trying than that? This is what connects us with Christ. When we see him die, we know that it was our fault. When we see him be raised, we rejoice, because it declared to us that God accepted his sacrifice.
Since we have gone through all this together - having already been crucified and raised with Christ, Paul says, to “set your mind on heavenly things.” Isn’t that only natural? Ever since our resurrection to faith, God says that our life is now hidden WITH Christ IN God. It means we’re completely surrounded by God - the Holy Spirit lives in us - and we are married to Christ. Who or what else could we think about?
Then why is it that our minds are always so stuck on earthly things? Why is it that our kids are looking forward to Easter mainly for the candy? Why is it that every day we live we tend to focus on school or work? Why don’t we think more about or talk more about the resurrection, or the crucifixion? WWhy is our mind still in the gutter? It’s because even though Christ lives in you, and you have been put to death, you are still carrying around a dead body. Remember what Paul said, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Imagine for instance the picture of the Night of the Living Dead. All of these dead bodies were brought back to life and walking around. Some of them couldn’t walk very well because they were all decayed and stinky. That’s kind of what it’s like to live as a Christian. Our spirits are alive, but our bodies are still decaying because of their sinful flesh. As much as we want to think about spiritual things, our flesh doesn’t want to.
But Paul reminds us today - your sinful flesh is crucified, and you have been raised. You don’t have to listen to it - because it’s dead! You have a LIVING Savior that you are connected with - who can make your dead arms and legs move. So in spite of your flesh, set your minds on heavenly things. How would you like it if you were married, and your spouse always talked about his or her ex-boyfriends or girlfriends? That’s how God feels. He says, “I put your sinful nature to death! I raised you to life! It’s time to get out of the gutter! It’s time to live! You don’t have to think about that stuff anymore! Set your minds on heavenly things - on pleasing me - on learning God’s Word - on spreading my name! Think about those things!”
II. Since that is where your future is
When I was married six years ago, I had Pastor Dobberstein preach for our wedding. And I had him preach on Isaiah 61:10-11 I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
In the sermon he talked about how we have been clothed with the righteousness of Christ - made beautiful in God’s sight through the blood of Christ. It was a beautiful sermon. But a while after the wedding, one of Bekah’s cousins said, “I didn’t get it.” She didn’t grasp the concept that Isaiah was laying out.
Have you grasped what God is saying to you today? That your life is hidden with Christ in God? Or is it hidden from you? Another reason that God says we are HIDDEN with Christ - is that we are also hidden from the eyes of the world. Imagine for instance if I were to get a glimpse of heaven this morning, and try to explain it to you. How in the world could I do that? Paul talks about a man like that in 1 Corinthians 12 and says, He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. It was inexpressible - beyond what we would recognize. That’s what life is like as a Christian among unbelievers. We can talk about the peace of forgiveness - but unbelievers don’t get it. We can express our hope of a resurrection - when our bodies will be raised from the dead because Jesus rose, but they look at us as strange, superstitious, and naive people. We can talk about the joy of eternal life - but to them - they’re on the outside looking in.
That’s why it’s hard to live in this world. It’s about as easy living here as it is in a cemetery. They look at us as strange and foolish for giving our firstfruits to the Lord. While we get excited about singing songs on Easter, and about a future resurrection - the world just sits there emotionless. They would rather just give candy to kids to make them happy. And so we stick out in this world. We don’t mix. We don’t glory in the things of this world. We are “hidden.” It isn’t easy. It isn’t fun.
But Paul says all that will change. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. There will come a time - when Christ - who IS your life - who gives you spiritual life now - will appear again. Peter says that - the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Paul says, the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. We can’t even imagine what a wonderful occurrence this will be. Imagine being alive on the earth when the Lord comes again! Imagine your body changing in the twinkling of an eye - becoming ALIVE again - and losing all of the pain and sorrow! It’s unfathomable! All of this is possible through Christ. Since he died for your sins and rose from the dead, he promises that the dead IN CHRIST will rise to be with him. What a glorious event it will be to shine like the stars in the heaven - and have Jesus say to us, “‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. All this is possible because of the resurrection of Christ! When Christ, who is your life, appears, then YOU ALSO will appear with him in glory!
In light of this, Paul says, fix your mind on heavenly things. In about one month I will be taking a vacation in Virginia with my wife - just the two of us. I am looking forward to a little R&R - maybe some time at Virginia Beach - and preaching for the saints in Manassas for Pentecost. I look forward to a break in the action for a little bit. My mind occasionally goes there and thinks about it, and even plans for it. In the same way, but even more so - this is why we should fix our mind on heavenly things. Why? Because we are going to be living in heaven permanently! If you’re going to spend the rest of your life there in glory, why not think about it now? Why not think about how to bring others into his kingdom? Why not try to know more about this kingdom on earth? Why not try for a closer relationship with the God you are going to spend the rest of your life with?
When two people get engaged, you have two different reactions. Some that are going to get married say, “I’m going to party it up before I get married.” They have wild bachelor parties and refer to marriage as a ball and chain. Do you think the spouse to be enjoys that kind of talk? If I heard my wife talking like that before marriage I might have reconsidered getting married. How do you think our heavenly Groom feels when we live our lives that way? When we try to eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die? Is that the attitude to have? To say “in heaven there is no beer, that’s why we drink it here?” God forgive us.
But what a faithful spouse we have - who has stayed faithful to us in spite of our infidelity. Instead of divorcing us, God has died for us, forgiven us, and put a new dress on us - of holiness and perfection, along with a new spirit - a spirit that longs to be with our Groom now as we wait for the royal marriage on Judgment Day. As long as we know that we will spend eternity with Christ - in GLORY - it makes all of the suffering and sorrow in this life worth it. So we do think about heavenly things. We think about what it will be like at Judgment Day - how our bodies will be - what heaven will be like - heavenly things - because that’s where we know we’re going.
There’s a saying that goes, “don’t judge a man until you’ve walked a hundred miles in his moccasins.” The thinking behind it is that you need to experience what someone else has to understand why they think and act the way they do. You have to walk in his shoes. Then you can make a clear judgment on why he acts the way he does. In today’s text Paul calls on us to think like God - think about heavenly things - to go beyond the things of this earth - to look forward to the resurrection. It’s interesting how he does it, isn’t it? Instead of bringing us up to heaven, and telling us to put on HIS shoes, he brings heaven down to us. He had Jesus live in our shoes, die our death, and then go to heaven. He then takes Jesus’ righteousness - splashes it on us - and raises us spiritually with Christ. Before he has us think about heavenly things, he first of all makes us heavenly - a part of heaven itself, by resurrecting us from the dead and uniting us to Christ. Therefore, thinking about heavenly things isn’t a difficult thing for us to do. Heaven is a part of us. We were buried with Christ. We were raised with Christ. And one day, we will physically arise to be with Christ forever. This is what we naturally look forward to. Setting our minds on heavenly things is what we do, because God has made us heavenly. Amen.
