A Whole New You
Colossians 3:1-4
1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above and not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Intro: In the preceding chapters, Paul has refuted both the doctrinal and practical fallacies espoused by the false teachers and pagan zealots roaming about in the city of Colossae. He has challenged the Christians to stand firm in their faith understanding that in Christ they have a complete and thoroughly life changing salvation.
It should be noted that there is a difference between false asceticism and “true asceticism”. False asceticism is a fleshly gratification in the rigors toward the body because of pride and superiority. True asceticism is that the Christian life is other worldly. We are to find inspiration to maintain a transformed experience while still a part of this world. We don’t do this to escape. Rather, we are to have the same attitude as that Christ Jesus (Ph. 2:5) – While we are here for only a short while, we are to be in the world but not of the world.
After a lengthy defense of the authenticity of Christ, beginning in chapter 3, Paul is shifts gears and turns his focus from the outward evidence that supports the credibility of Christ to the inward reality that Christ has changed a life. Paul informs the Colossian Christians that if they have an authentic faith, then it ought to manifest itself in Christ-likeness.
Note: Paul exhorts his readers to give an outward expression of an inward connection. If your faith is genuine, then your life ought to show it – because faith without works is dead.
Note: The Christian life is a life “hid with Christ in God.” Nonetheless, it is also a life that is visibly lived out before others. Thus, the evidence of Christ in you is Christ showing through you.
Quote: Before a Christian can reach the world, he first must leave it. McArthur
I A New Motivation
Verse: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ…
Word: since – in view of the fact;
Idea: By grace through faith, everyone who has believed in Christ has a complete salvation, a complete forgiveness, and a complete victory over sin, death, and the devil. It is because of this complete triumph that everyone who calls upon the Lord Jesus as their Savior ought to live a life that reflects the nature and person of Jesus Christ.
Word: raised up (sounagerthate) raised up together. A complete action of being co-resurrected w/ Christ.
Idea: In being resurrected with Christ, I have been set free from the rule and reign of sin and death and have been made more than a conqueror in His name.
Verse: There is now no condemnation to those who a found in Christ Jesus. Rm. 8:1
Song: I’m my beloved’s and He is mine, His banner over me is love.
II A New Focus
Verse: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Note: Col. 2:20 tells us what to do if we have died with Christ – we are to separate ourselves from this patterns of this world and we are to be transformed to the things of God’s realm (Rm. 21:1-2)
Col. 3:1 tells us what to do if we are raised up with Christ – we are to keep seeking things above which point to the things that belong to the resurrection life.
Note: We must remember that we are not immune to the temporal or material, therefore we must seek first the kingdom of God. Seek is an active (subject produces the action) indicative (mood of certainty – used to declare that something is true) or imperative (mood of volition or will).
Verse: Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Mt. 6:33
Word: set (zeteo) to seek continually; a continual and habitual action of setting something as the object of your worship; to set or establish as one’s top priority, desire, and ambition.
Quote: To seek things above is to see that our interests are centered in Christ, that our attitudes, our ambitions, and our whole outlook on life are molded by our relations to Him. Vaughn
Word: things above (ano) upward things; the treasures of heaven; an emphatic emphasis to contrast the things of God versus the things of this world. We are to set our focus and desires upon heavenly or spiritual things.
Phrase: seated at the right hand (en dexiai tou theou kathemonenos) signifies a place of honor, and power.
Point: Never take your eye off the goal (see Heb. 12:1-2) – fix your eyes on Jesus.
Truth: Christians are to live on earth in the same manner in which they expect to live in heaven in God’s presence.
III A New Priority
Verse: Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Word: minds (phroneite) to continually keep on thinking about and to never give in; to think of in the scope of eternity. The focus is upon one’s inner disposition.
Verse: Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you might prove that holy and acceptable Word of God. Rm. 12:2
Note: We renew our minds by thinking on God – by setting our minds attention on God’s interests. To “set your mind on…” is a deliberate choice on my part.
Verse: For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Phil. 3:18-21
Quote: A Christian must not just seek heaven, they should also think heaven.
Verse: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God f peace will be with you. Ph. 4:8-9
Truth: Christians should not only act differently from the world, they should also think differently. Their focus and motives ought to be different. They are driven by things that are of eternal value and not temporal.
Note: While we must continually think spiritually and about things that are of eternal significance, we must guard against becoming so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.
IV A New Reality
Verse: For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
GET REAL
A R Realize Your Union in Christ
Note: In receiving Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, I sign the title deed of my life over to Him and as a result I surrender my life to His call and care.
1 I belong to God.
Verse: You surely know that your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives. The Spirit is in you and is a gift from God. You are no longer your own. God paid a great price for you. So use your body to honor God.
1 Cr. 6-19-20
2 I am a new person in Christ
Verse: If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come! 2 Cr. 5:17
B E Experience Your Death with Christ
Verse: When we were baptized, we died and were buried with Christ. We were baptized, so that we would live a new life, as Christ was raised to life by the glory of God the Father. If we shared in Jesus’ death by being baptized, we will be raised to life with him. We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin. We know that sin doesn’t have power over dead people. As surely as we died with Christ, we believe we will also live with him. Rm. 6:4-8
Verse: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Gal. 2:20
C A Accept Your Position as Hidden with Christ
Note: In Christ, I am safe and secure in my salvation and in my walk. I am under His care.
D L Live Expectantly of Christ’s Return
Note: I am to live each day as if Christ were going to return at any moment. I am to live in such a way that upon His return I shall not be ashamed, but shall hear the words, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.
Exegesis
Based upon the assumed fact, therefore, that you have exercised a genuine faith and trust in the bodily death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you have, consequently, been raised up and identified with Him in a true and living spiritual relationship, that is, you have been spiritually resurrected and thus, reborn - - from death to life. Since this has occurred, keep on seeking, desiring and earnestly striving to establish and fix your focus upon the centrality of Christ - - that is to responsibly and faithfully submit yourselves to Him in order that you might diligently by your attitudes, by your ambitions, and by your actions those values, treasures, and blessings whose origin and existence are from heaven and are, therefore, above reproach and of Godly character. Keep your mind’s eye (affections), your emotions, and your will focused and bent upon these values, treasures and blessings which are from above in heavenly places, namely in the throne room and presence of God. Do this in order that your inner man, your new nature, would have it’s cravings and hunger nurtured by God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit as He unveils and reveals His will and purpose for your life. Therefore, realize and live like you have no need to turn your eyes or desires away from God in order to consider or meditate upon the aims or goals of this sinful and gluttonous, fallen world. In fact, be on your guard and alert, for while you must live and manage in this corrupt world, you must not view all things as taboo and evil, despising and rejecting their comforts and resources, yet simply be realistically careful and honest about your tendencies and struggles so that you are not suddenly or swiftly taken captive by some wolf in sheep’s clothing. Also be careful that you are not caught willfully dwelling and partaking in the midst of this depraved generation. God does not desire for you to be robbed of His rich and abundant inheritance, but for you to experience the fullness of your relationship with Him. For you have spiritually died to sin, that is to say that you have been separated from sin once and for all (Rom. 6), in regards to the Law (Gal. 2:19), to the basic principles of this world (Col. 2:20), and in general to all spiritual association with the world and with those things which pertain to it. This is solely made possible because of your union and identification with Christ. As of consequence, your life and very existence as one of God’s beloved children should cause you to be motivated, captivated, and energized by “Christ in you, the hope of Glory.” As one of His own, your life has been placed in to a secure place. Your life has been locked up with and linked together with His. You have been concealed in a bond of unity by His death, burial, and resurrection since you have been united with Christ. And through your union with Christ, and through His union with the Father (Jesus is the only begotten One from the Father, the firstborn over creation, the Head of the Body), you can now have union and peace with God (Rom. 5:1). When He returns for His children at the second coming, Jesus - - - who is our very essence by right of ownership (I Cor. 6:19, 20 & Gal. 2:20) - - - the author, perfecter, and sustainer of our faith (Heb. 12:1,2) - - - the person with whom we have surrendered our lives, but with whom he has entrusted us that we might prove ourselves to be faithful stewards of His ministry - - - when He appears, then we will be eternally transformed, no longer bearing the traits of this world, but we will be glorified and completely sanctified bearing only the traits of God. Until His return though . . . Colossians 3:5-17
