On Heavenly Mindedness, Part 1 | Living for the Highest Priority

Colossians 3:1-4

Turn in your bibles to Colossians chapter 3. Many believers in the Colossian church were struggling in their Christian life because of a lack of heavenly mindedness and they were succumbing to some form, of worldly mindedness. They were being distracted from simple devotion to Christ. They were giving in to the temptation to think like worldly people think. That’s a pressure we all face, isn’t it? They were entertaining worldly arguments. They were pondering worldly philosophies to see what meat they could find while they spit out the bones. They were submitting to worldly traditions. They were observing worldly pastimes.

 Many of those things were happening outside the church. But they were brought inside of the church and considered as something that may be relevant and helpful to the Christian life. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Inside the church as well, there were people who seemed like the super spiritual Christians. You can find them, look in Colossians 2:18 and following. These are the people who were insisting on asceticism. If you’re not familiar with that term it means, like hyper spiritual disciplined.

Trying to pressure everybody into ascetic harsh treatment of the body; strict schedules, strict disciplines, all of it commanding the conscience of believers. So they were insisting on asceticism and, also by the way the worship of angels. Going on in detail about visions they were having, puffed up without reason about their sensuous minds.

 And as spiritual as these people seemed, they were not spiritual. Verse 19, they were not holding fast to the head of the church who is Jesus Christ. The Colossians, these newer believers, they were giving in, they were caving in, they were listening to every kind of teaching, considering all of it to have some form of merit. They were allowing their consciences to be bound by that which is not biblical, that which is not truly Christian.

Though they had professed Christ, though they had walked with Christ, though they had even suffered for Christ. Slowly, and even as it were almost imperceptivity, they had been disengaging from Christ, which is lethal to your spiritual vitality, joy, growth, security, confidence, fruitfulness, and on and on we could go. After all it is in Christ that “all the fullness of deity” dwells bodily, Colossians 2:9 and Christians are filled in him alone. It is in Christ, Colossians 2:3, that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are found. The Colossians had to stop looking to the world for wisdom. Why? Because the world has no wisdom, nothing, nothing to offer. Christ has all, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in him. So, they, they needed to be connected to Christ.

The practical effect of their worldly mindedness was to compromise the Colossian church with the fruit of worldly mindedness, which is sin. They had been committing sin. Notice the end of the second chapter. Paul sort of summarizes the result of their thinking throughout that second chapter. Colossians 2:23 says, “These,” that is all these traditions and, and things that bind your conscience, all this asceticism, all these visions, all this extra biblical teaching, “these have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body. But they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

Then notice in Colossians 3:5, the verse right after the section we’re going to cover this morning. Paul commands the Colossians to deal with their sins and to deal with their sins at the root level, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry.” The sins of their hearts, which was an outgrowth of idolatry in the heart, the sins of their hearts were producing evil fruits on the outside, verse 8, “…anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk” on and on it goes.

So not only was this worldly mindedness in the Colossian church of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh, worldly mindedness was fanning into a flame all of the temptations of the flesh, and many believers were being overcome. They’d been compromised by false teaching, false doctrines. They were being overcome by their sins. They were in danger of being completely neutralized as a church.

 So Paul wrote this letter and at a key turning point in the letter, Colossians 3:1-4, he gives an exhortation that is essential, it is a hinge point on sanctification. He has got to call the Colossians attention to the essence of Christian repentance. Which is, turning from a worldly mindedness to a heavenly mindedness. Which is an issue of faith. It has to do with the thought life, the affections, the will.

Look at Colossians 3:1-4, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Don’t you love the simplicity of that text? Think about your own life in the light of that text, Christian. Are you, like the Colossians, are you succumbing to temptations of the flesh? Are you compromising, slipping into some form of spiritual lethargy, going through the motions. Anesthetized by worldly distractions that you have allowed to become dominant in your life.

Think for a moment about your thought life. What do you spend your time thinking about? Do you think about earthly things mostly? Or are you preoccupied with heavenly things? Are you overcome with fears and anxieties? Are you often preoccupied with relational conflicts and unfulfilled ambitions, or with the cares of the world, financial or otherwise? Has your mind slipped away from the simplicity of devotion to Jesus Christ? If so, let’s get back on track. You have to have noticed in that text as we read how Christ-centered that text is.

 Our thoughts are to be preoccupied with Christ, verse 1. Our minds are to be thinking about where Christ is right now bodily, verse 1. We’re to be focused on Christ seated at God’s right hand. Our life is hidden with Christ, our very life. What actually makes us, us, is hidden with Christ, verse 3. One day, we need to be meditating on this, one day Christ will appear, verse 4. We too will appear when that happens with Christ, verse 4, with Christ in glory. The remedy for all false teaching, the remedy for all distraction, the remedy for a joyless, powerless, unfruitful life, is found in Christ. To walk in Christ, to pursue Christ, devoted to him in passion, and diligence, and joy, that’s the Christian life.

This text gives us the perspective we need to do all that Paul writes about starting in verse 5 of Colossians 3 and following all the way to the end of the book, all the way through that great chapter. In a word this text gives us the perspective we need to live the Christian life, very simple. Neglect this text and you will waver. You will succumb to worldly distraction, and worldly temptation, fleshly temptation. You’ll find yourself, neglecting this text, you’ll find yourself falling often into sin. You’ll feel overwhelmed, you’ll feel overcome, like you cannot get a hold on your thought life. You’ll feel taken away, carried down the river as it were, of fleshly indulgence.

 But, get this text down. Really get it down, put it into daily practice. You’ll be thriving in the Christian life, guaranteed. So what I want to do is to give you just three simple points. Three points, there’s one condition, two obligations, and three motivations in this text, three simple points. It will give you the perspective and the motivation that you need to live a joyful and fruitful Christian life. That’s what I want to see for all of you.

 Let’s begin by looking at one condition, the one condition necessary for living the Christian life. That is to say, if this condition isn’t met you fail in the Christian life. If this condition’s met, you will thrive and succeed. You have everything you need to live the Christian life. One condition, this is the vital prerequisite. Look at Colossians 3:1-2, “If then you have been raised with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.” That condition, that one condition, the one prerequisite, comes in the very first phrase. “If then you have been raised with Christ.”

what does that mean? I mean I’m not raised up at all, frankly. I’m here, I get up every morning. I go to the same job. I’ve got the same life. I eat the same oatmeal. I’ve got the same old sandwich. I am not living a raised up life. It’s a daily grind here on earth, in fact sometimes I feel like I’m being buried alive under the earth. What do you mean raised up? You see the word, verse 1, second word, if then? If then, that’s the conjunction, therefore. Therefore, which connects, this text with the previous context. So, if then, you’ve been raised with Christ or if, therefore, you have been raised with Christ. So let’s go all the way back to chapter 2 and verse 9, verse 9 where Paul speaks about what it means to be raised with Christ.

So look at verse 9 of chapter 2, “For in him,” that is in Christ, “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” It’s the mystery of the incarnation, right? And, verse 10, “You have been filled in him.” Oh, we are filled with all that’s in Christ. “Filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority.”

 So if we keep close to Christ, we don’t have to worry about any other rule or authority other than Christ and everything Christ commands. If you fear one person in your life, you’ll fear no one else. If you don’t fear him, I guarantee you’ll fear everybody else. “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. You have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with in him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith and the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. You who were once dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him. Having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Amen Christian?

 There’s a series of metaphors there that Paul uses. In that series of metaphors Paul unpacks what he means in verse 10 that “you have been filled in him.” This is what’s true for every Christian. First he says there in verse 11, “We are circumcised in him.” That means our old self, the fleshly unregenerate self, that is dead in trespasses and sins; that old self, to be circumcised is to have that old self cut off cut away and cast away. The verb is peritemno, in the Greek, and it means to cut around, literally to cut around, to cut away, to cut off, it is the term for circumcise.

 And those who have been filled in Christ are those who have had that unregenerate, unbelieving, dead in sins self, cut off and thrown away. Second, in verse 12, those who have been filled in Christ are those who have been baptized in Christ. The word is, there is baptizma, from the verb baptizo, that is to be submerged in water. That is a beautiful picture, it’s a picture of union with Christ, it is a picture of emersion, and submersion, complete surrounding and covering, to be, sum, subsumed in Jesus Christ.

 The metaphor here is speaking of our full spiritual union. When God united us to Christ. A union that covers us completely in Christ. So in other words, God has counted us, he has reckoned us, as having died spiritually when Christ died physically. We’re transported back to the cross. And when God nailed his son to the cross because of the sins that we committed, it’s as if we died with him. Burying that punishment, burying that wrath. God then reckons us as having been buried with Christ spiritually when he was buried physically. And then God reckons us as having been raised up with Christ spiritually when he was raised physically, bodily, literally being resurrected from the dead. That is the power that is our salvation.

 And Paul makes these metaphors unmistakably clear in verse 13 when he tells the Colossian believers, “You who were dead in your trespasses and sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,” he, “made alive.” Two more metaphors there. Dead in trespasses, what does that mean? It means not alive to the Law of God? Dead in trespasses means, living in constant and repeated violation of God’s law. Dead in trespasses means guilty under divine condemnation, facing eternal death when God righteously sentences us for our repeated violations of his holy Law. That’s what it means to be dead in trespasses.

 We’re also, according to verse 13, dead in the “uncircumcision of our flesh.” Which means we had been bound to, basically, a dead and rotting corpse. Tied to a corpse. Dead in the uncircumcision of the flesh means experiencing the corruption, the defilement, the rottenness of the carnal life. Dead in the uncircumcision of the flesh means putrefaction, being overcome with the poisonous decaying of that dead and rotting condition. But God here, in his amazing grace, he stepped in to our deadness, and trespasses, and uncircumcision, and he intervened by raising us to new life. That’s verse 14,

God made us alive together with him, having forgiven us, sent away all our trespasses. “Cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.” Think about that. Think about all the sins you have committed against a holy God. Think about all the sins of mind that you’ve committed against a holy God. If God were to flash your thinking up on the screen, what would we see? All the sins of thought, word, and deed. The things that we’ve said to other people. They’re absolutely scandalously, slanderous, and accusing, and ugly. All of our words, all of our unkind words, all of our wrong, critical-spirited judgments.

 All of our deeds. Things that he commanded us to do and we didn’t. Like love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Things that he commanded us not to do and we pursue it whole heartedly. Think about all the sins that God has forgiven. He has wiped away that he has cancelled. This record of debt that he himself in his holy omniscience has kept writing down everything. He took that, and he nailed it to the cross.

 Is that good news? Apart from God’s grace we were dying, we were, it’s ugly but it’s, we were decomposing. We were becoming increasingly foul. Apart from God’s grace, apart from Christ we kept on trespassing, we kept on violating his holy Law. We could do nothing but earn our death sentence of eternity in hell. But God put an end to that. Forgiving us all of our trespasses, not, not just some, not a majority, majority won’t do us any good. When one sin can condemn us to an eternal hell, he took away all of them and forgave them. He took those written violations, the legal demands, he set them aside; not by forgetting all of them; not by suppressing them; not by refusing to look at them and deal with them, no; he dealt with them fully and finally when he magnified them and then nailed them to the cross. Killing his own son. Jesus, freely, willingly died the death that we should have died that we might live the eternal life that God has given us in him.

Now, go back to Colossians 3:1 and import all of that from chapter 2 into that opening phrase “If then you have been raised with Christ.” If you’re here today and you are in Christ, okay maybe you don’t feel any different physically. You got the same old job, you’ve got the same situation, you’ve got the same ailing body which is hurting you and getting worse as age takes its different forms, right? But if you are united to Christ you can attest to the fact that there was a point in your life when you started thinking differently. Something changed, you know that you have different desires, different ambition; you are not the same as you’ve always been.

Different things matter to you. An entirely new life animates you, excites you, gives you joy, happiness. You find the sinful pastimes of the world around you to be repugnant. And you can see and smell the death in it. You’re ashamed of the time you spent sinning, offending a holy God. And you’re ashamed whenever you find yourself now stumbling into the same old sins. Giving in to old habits, and you wonder what is happening, why am I doing that?

 You no longer care about hiding your sins from God and from others. You don’t care about controlling people’s perceptions of you. You don’t care about controlling people’s opinions, getting respect, getting ahead, making a lot of money, or whatever it is. What you do care about is what God thinks. What you do care about is what mature Christian people around you think. Because you want them to help you live the Christian life. You want them to help you to pass on their wisdom and maturity to you, that you might please God in all of his glory, for all of his grace. So you want to be a part of mature Christian conversation. You want to join in with the same godly mature Christian pursuits. You want to make plans for holiness in your life.

 You’re so overcome with joy that the living God has taken kind notice of you, to forgive you, that you feel you need to tell everyone around you about him. You want to tell everybody how to know him, how to come to Christ through repentance and faith. In fact you don’t understand why anybody can talk about anything else.

 That folks is the common experience of every true born-again Christian. Do we all live that as faithfully, as consistently, as we should? No we don’t. That’s why we come here every single Sunday to be reminded, over and over again. But this is what we all share in common right? Those of us who are in Christ, those of us who as it says here have been raised with Christ, this is the evidence that the life of God is flowing in and through us. Giving us the will and the power to obey everything Christ has commanded.