Colossians 3:1-4
What?
Woodlawn Baptist Church
October 22, 2006
Introduction
Show billboard slideshow (there’s a link to the billboard for this sermon at the end of the sermon)
Kathy and I were headed south out of Shreveport, almost down to I-10, when we pass this mobile home dealership. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I laughed about it, thought about it, then after a few miles my interest got the best of me, so I turned around to take some pictures. I thought about submitting them to Jeff Foxworthy. Surely there has to be a redneck joke in here somewhere. “You know you’re a redneck if you run out of room in your yard for junk cars and you have them put on your roof.” Who knows?
More than anything, I could only scratch my head and wonder what trucks on the roofs has to do with anything. The houses are strong? Buy a house and we’ll throw in the truck? Probably just something to make you look that way, but to be honest with you I never looked at the houses – I was only confused by the message someone was trying to send.
Like that redneck marketing gimmick, all too often God’s people can cause wonder to the world around them. As people look at our lives, do they understand the message we’re trying to communicate? Or do we send mixed signals? Can people walk away from our lives with a right understanding of what we offer? Or do they look at us and wonder?
The Bible teaches us that we’re to be like Christ. When Romans 12:2 tells us “not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds,” we must see that God intends for each of us to recognize how our lives are being influenced by the world around us and to allow the Holy Spirit to change us. When people drive by, they ought to see Christ living in us and through us. They ought to see His love manifested in our relationships, His grace extended to those who are unlovable, His forgiveness offered to those who have offended us, and His purpose and power flowing through us.
But do they see that? Do we stop to think about the mixed signals we’re sending with our lives when we drive up to church each Sunday, when we pray before our meals, but our lives are little different from theirs? You see, what we can be guilty of doing is putting something flashy up on the roof to get people’s attention, but did they understand the message? Or did they only see the flash?
Today I want to talk to you about living for Christ with the hopes that you will see that Christ desires a better life for us that most people fail to ever explore. In Colossians 3:1-4 I want to share with you two lessons each of us needs to learn, of which we need to be reminded, and the evidence that you have really learned them is for you to practice them. Your life may be a contradiction. Your words and your walk may be two completely different things. If it is, then consider that…
You Must Be Saved
Colossians 3:1 says,
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.”
The word “if” in this verse carries the sense of “since.” “Since then you were raised with Christ…” It takes us back to chapter 2:6 and following. “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him…” Now drop down to verse 12.
“Buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
Now here’s what I want you to see by looking back at these verses. In Colossians 3 Paul is going to make an appeal to these believers to live lives that are consistent with their faith. In other words, if you claim to be followers of Christ, then live like it! But the basis of that appeal is their salvation. “If…since…you are risen with Christ…” What do you have to do to be risen with Christ? You have to have died and have been buried! Before there can be a resurrection from the dead, there has to be a death!
That’s what salvation is all about. The Bible teaches us that as long as a person is lost he is dead in his sin and is at odds with God. Ephesians 2:1 tells us that before a man comes to Christ he is “dead in trespasses and sins.” Romans 6:23 tells us that the “wages of sin is death…”
It may be that you’re struggling to live the Christian life because you’re really not a Christian. It may be that you’ve never really been raised with Christ. If you’re life is marked by sin and that which dishonors God it may be because you are still dead in your sins. Its something you need to think about. You see, when we’re saved…when we come to the place in our life where we repent of our sin and put our faith in Christ there’s supposed to be a death that takes place – a death to sin…death to this world.
Let me explain it like this: before I was saved, I was a dead man walking. I was on death row so to speak, guilty and condemned and under the wrath of God because of my sin. My sin was an offense to God; I had already been sentenced to hell. However, “God extended his love toward me, in that while I was a sinner, Christ became sin for me and died for me.” When He died for me, He was immersed, or baptized in the wrath of God, the wrath that God had in store for me. In other words, Jesus served my sentence for me – He endured the wrath of God for me.
Now I have a choice. I can refuse that payment and choose to reject God’s offer of salvation. If I reject it, I will serve that sentence myself, but I’ll serve it for eternity in hell. The better choice though is to accept that payment for my sin. When I come to Christ and confess that it was my sin that caused the death of Christ and trust Him for salvation, God considers me to have been buried with Jesus in that baptism of His wrath. In other words, when God poured out His wrath on Jesus, He was thinking about me.
But that’s not the end. Not only was I buried with Jesus in that baptism of God’s wrath, but I was raised with Him in the working of God. That’s why in Colossians 3:1 Paul says to us, “If then you were raised with Christ…” It begins with salvation. You must be saved.
You Are To Seek Heavenly, Eternal Things
If you really are saved, then God expects to find you looking, seeking, earnestly craving and desiring those things which are above. Are the things of the kingdom of God important to you? Are you consumed with this life and all you want out of it or are you consumed with the eternal things of God?
You might fool those around you, but God is well aware of what our real desires and ambitions are. I am of the growing opinion that you have to consciously plan to seek those things. You will only seek those things that are important to you, but all too often the good things of life crowd out the best things. That’s why I think it is of great value to you to take some time each week, and then each day to plan, to schedule and to look for opportunities to seek God.
If that sounds too mechanical to you then you’ll just have to get over it. The truth of the matter is that we will only hit what we are aiming at, and if you’re not aiming to seek God then you’ll miss every time.
Not only are we to seek those things, but we’re to set our affections there as well. If you have a Bible with marginal references then it tells you that the word “affections” is used synonymously with the word “minds.” “Set your minds on things above; set your affections on things above.”
We’re not to be preoccupied with the things of this world. Our heart’s greatest desire, our great love ought to be to pursue heavenly, eternal things. You see, if we’re sending the right signals with our lives then when people pass by us they’re going to see a people deeply in love with God.
I know a man here in town who is married and has two grown children. He goes to church, and if you asked him he tell you he loves the Lord. He tries to send a message out that says he loves his family and the Lord, but his life tells a different story. The man is known all over town as a womanizer. His wife doesn’t think he’s faithful to her. His son says he’s a womanizer. Women in town tell me he’s a creep. He’s a contradiction – sending to the world a confused message.
When I married Kathy…when I said yes to her I was in effect saying no to every other woman in the world. She could rightly say to me, and I can rightly say to every married man in this room, “If you then be married, set your affection on your wife, not on the other women of the world.” It is by my affections for my wife that you will know what my heart’s greatest desire is.
That’s what God is telling us as believers. If you’re really saved, then you’ll show it in your affections. What message are you sending out to the world by your affections? When others look at your life, do they see a man or woman consumed with a job? A hobby? A sin? Do they hear in your conversations a man or woman deeply in love with a church or some system of doctrine? Or do they hear in your conversations a love affair with Jesus Christ? Is Christ your greatest love? Does your relationship with Him reign supreme?
Conclusion
In verses 3-4, Paul said,
“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
The Lord says to us that it is because of our new life in Christ that our affections change, and if you are saved, then those affections should have changed. If they have not it either means that you’re not really saved or you’ve never really chosen to seek the things of God. You’ve never really committed yourself to the relationship entered in salvation.
When the Lord brought Adam and Eve together in marriage, the Bible says this about the relationship,
“Therefore shall a man leave his mother and father, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.”
In other words, there are not two individual lives any more. Both individuals gave up their individuality in the marriage relationship. Their lives are hidden in that relationship. That’s why a man’s affections are to be changed.
Let’s read verse 3 and 4 this way,
“Husbands, set your affections on your wives, not on other women, for you are dead to those women, and your life is hidden with your wife in marriage.”
Do you see that? Anything less is a confusing, contradictory message. Now apply that to your relationship to Christ. Why are you consumed with Christ? Why are you to be consumed with the kingdom of God? Why is your life to be marked with a new affection? Because you’re dead to this world, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
But is it? That’s a question only you can really answer. As you answer it this morning, I recognize that we all face some enormous fears and reservations about being totally yielded to Christ, about being consumed with living for His glory. If I commit my life to Christ will I miss out on some things? There are so many things I want to pursue, that I want to do, that I want to see and experience. Will I miss out if I set my affections only on Christ? If my life is really hidden in His?
The answer is found in verse 4. It is a wonderful statement that I see whenever I work in my garden or flower bed. Last year mom and dad gave me a 5-gallon bucket of ugly, muddy flower bulbs. Nothing to look at to be sure. But I took those flower bulbs, stuck them down into the dirt, buried them, watered them, and in God’s time they grew and bloomed and were the pride of my front yard for a while.
That’s the way the Bible describes our lives. Unless we’re willing to be hidden with Christ, buried, we’re not going to see the point. It’s only when we allow God to hide us in Him, to water and work our lives that we’re going to see the point. For you see, one day, in God’s own timing, when Christ, who is our life appears, then a glorious event is going to take place – but it’s about more than that rapture we are so fond of. It’s about growing and bearing fruit – about blooming where God plants us – about bringing great glory to Him when His purposes are worked out in our lives.
Are you resisting that work in your life? Have you ever really trusted Christ as your Savior? Can you remember a time when you repented of your sin? Was there a time in your life when you confessed your sin to God and trusted in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ to be the payment for your sin? Are you really saved? A religious experience is not salvation. Baptism is not salvation. Going to church won’t get you to heaven. Only saving faith in Jesus Christ will.
Are your affections what they ought to be? Is your life hidden with Christ in God? Or are your affections telling the world a different story? Is your life a contradiction? Are you confusing those who pass by with whatever it is you’re advertising? Does the world know by your words, your attitudes, and actions…in other words, does the world know by your life that you are wed to Christ? If it’s not, then do something about it today.
You can view the billboard here: http://higgypreacherman.blogspot.com/2006/10/what.html
