Colossians 3:1-17

SET YOUR HEARTS ON THINGS ABOVE

Colossians 3:1-17 Lesson 5
Key Verse: 3:1 Shp Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF 8-9-09

" Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God."

In our last passage we learn that life in Christ is more than just being an arm chair theologian. It is more than just living by the rules and traditions of men. It is more than subjecting our bodies to harsh treatment. It is all about receiving Christ Jesus as Lord and continuing to live in him as a lifestyle. It is all about being rooted in Jesus and built up in him, strengthened in the faith and overflowing with thankfulness. Through repentance and faith we can put deep roots down into the grace and truth of God. Then we can be built up in Jesus, as individuals and as a church. Many of us decided to be overflowing with thanksgiving, to search for true life only in Jesus and to lead others to true life in him. Maybe you were one of those people?
Up to this point, chapters 1 and 2 were all about doctrine. Now, in chapters 3 & 4 Paul talks more about the practical life of believers, concentrating on the new person we have become and the new life we have been called to live. As God's children, we must cast off the old self and put on the new, and then God will continue to work in us to mold us into Jesus' image. Through this study, may God strengthen and inspire you to live a new life.
Part l: New Life In Christ (1-4)

Let’s dive into this passage. Verses 1 says, “you have been raised with Christ .” This is kind of hard to understand, especially for the young ones among us, but I trust the Holy Spirit to guide and to teach young hearts. “Raised with Christ” simply means that we have been united with Christ in his death and in his resurrection. Our old self has died and in Christ we have risen to become a new person, not superficially, but through and through. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God. Our hope is in him, for he will surely return to reign in glory, and we will rise to be with him forever.

But we are still waiting for Jesus to come again and as we do we have to live by faith in a fallen world polluted by sin. In such an environment we all know that Christian life does not come automatically, nor does it permeate our heart through osmosis. The “whip of life” can make our hearts very difficult and hard. We easily become discouraged when we discover that all that we set our hearts on is only spoiling, perishing and fading away. But in Christ, there is a solution. Verse 1a reads, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above,…" The only way to overcome this world is to set our hearts on Christ, and on things above.
“Set” and “seek” have similar meanings in Greek. To “set” implies that we don’t just think about it, but seek it with our whole body and mind. It implies action…a very positive thing. In order to make some positive action, we need some spiritual discipline on our lives. Then there will surely be and some positive growth and movement. When it comes to spiritual things and the kingdom of God, we must never be passive, but take hold of the things of God with our whole hearts. (Matt 11:12)
Despite of this world’s difficulties and our own weaknesses, our new lives are held safe and secure in Jesus. Verses 3 & 4 read, "For 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." We have been united in Christ. The new life we now have is with Christ. It is sheltered and a protected. To be certain, we will appear in heavenly glory with Jesus. We can live in Christ with perfect security and peace. So many students have no hope and assurance in this world. To them nothing seems certain, except death and taxes. They despair and live in fear. They need to enter into new life in Jesus and be found hidden in Christ.

Part ll: Put To Death The Earthly Nature (5-11)
We can not be passive about getting rid of old lives of sin either. Look at verse 5. "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:” Our earthly nature is our sinful nature. Some of the elements of the sinful nature are found in verse 5b, "….sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (Gal 5:17-21) If there is some confusion as to what sexual immorality is, Jesus spells is out very clearly. To Jesus even looking at someone lustfully is adultery. (Matt 5:28) Impurity implies that something is not holy…something tainted by sin. Anything that is not of faith is sin. Lust is lust, plain and simple and has no room in a Christian’s heart. Evil desires are desires that are not for the glory of God, for whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, we must do it all for the glory of God. (1Cor 10:31) When we are greedy, it means that we have let something capture our hearts. It makes us want to serve created things. Greed is like a fire, always desiring more. Anything that captures our hearts is idolatry. There are many reasons that a Christian must not live like this. But verse 6 makes it clear… “Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.” Paul gets right to the point. It displeases God. It damages us and damages others. These things rob the Holy Spirit of its rightful dwelling place…our hearts. The wrath of God is surely coming. We must take them under control with the gospel of Jesus. This is the heart of the matter.
People like to caudal their sin and slowly and gently put it to death. Maybe they think it will disappear painlessly. Some allow sin to reign in their mortal bodies for decades sometimes. I always remember the words of Michael Card in his song, “I Have Decided.” A portion of the song says, “There's a wealth of things that I professed and said that I believed. But deep inside I never changed. I guess I've been deceived. And a voice inside kept telling me that I changed by and by. But the Spirit made it clear to me that kind of life's a lie.” When it comes to our sinful nature Jesus commands that we put it to death, “"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:” “Put to death” are extreme words. It means literally to kill something so that it may not rise again. It has no response. In the Bible there is nothing gentle about dealing with sinful elements that invade our hearts. Hebrews 12:4 reads, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” But when we try to put our sinful nature to death, it might raise its ugly head again and again, but keep “killing it” through repentance and faith and it will loose its power over you and you will be able to throw it off and walk victoriously in Christ.

In our repentance we must not just simply trying to “not” do things, like “do not swear” or “do not get angry.” Repentance breathes new life into our weary bones, when go beyond the “don’ts” and hold fast to the full meaning of repentance. Romans 6:13 reads, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” We need to be positive in our repentance, replacing sin with positive things for the glory of God. Instead of swearing, praise the name of Jesus. Instead of being angry with someone forgive them and pray for them. Serve them a peanut butter sandwich. Be very positive in your repentance.

We can see the fruit of repentance in the lives of the Colossian Christians. Look at verse 7, “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.” (Also see 1 Cor 6:9-11) Paul seems to remind people of what they were before they came to saving faith in Jesus. He wanted these new converts to be firmly grounded in the grace of God. And when the grace of Jesus was very clear, they needed to get their lives in line with the grace that was poured out on them. Let’s read verses 8-9. “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.” In light of the grace of God we need to rid ourselves of many things. Anger is like murder in Jesus’ eyes. Rage is extreme anger..anger over expressed. I have to repent of letting rage come into my heart from time to time. Malice is intending something bad to happen to someone. Slander, is dragging someone’s good name through the dirt, publically. People can be sued for slandering. Filthy language is filthy language, plain and simple. It includes perverse talk, coarse jokes, swearing, taking the Lord’s name in vain. Lies can be subtle. Not telling the whole truth and being vague on purpose is like lying. It misleads people. But God can not be mocked. All lies will be exposed. Sometimes we think that such things are not all that bad. We get angry, we lie, we take God’s name in vain, and think nothing about it. We are sort of desensitized about it. But it is part of our old selves and must be taken off and replaced with the image of Jesus.

The image of Jesus is part of our new identity as believers in Jesus. Let’s read verse 10, “and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Thank God that we don’t have to bear our old identity as lost sinners. I don’t have to bear my old, old image of a destructive, hedonist or my recently old image of an angry father. We all have a new identity in God, that is, those who bear the image of Jesus. Our young people need find a new identity in God. Pray that God may raise up 12 disciples this summer who can put on their new self in the image of their Creator, Jesus Christ.

When we put on our new selves, then something beautiful happens in our fellowship. Look at verse 11. “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” In the world there are so many barriers and prejudices. There are all kinds of divisions. But in Jesus every human barrier comes down. The closer we get to Jesus the closer we get to each other. Young and old, men and women, all ethnic groups, all social barriers, racial barriers, and all prejudices are removed. In Jesus we have unity. In the cross we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. A healthy church should have all different kinds of people worshipping together as one.

Part lll: Christian Virtue (12-17)

A person who has put on the new self is one of God’s chosen people. Verse 12 reads, “ Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” God’s chosen people are holy before the eyes of God. They are made holy through their faith in the blood of Jesus. They are dearly loved by God and by many, (but not all) people. (12) As a chosen people part of the new self is to be clothed with virtues such as “…compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (12b) These, and other virtues, God wants to blossom in our hearts, as we remain in Christ. Verses 13 and 14 read, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Jesus really wants his disciples, of all ages to have unity with God and with one another. In John 17:11 Jesus prays for his disciples. “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.” There is only one way to achieve this type of unity. It is to bear and forgive one another. When we clothe ourselves with these virtues then we can grow in perfect unity with God and with one another.

How hard it to achieve unity! Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning. Staying together is progress. Working together is success.” But among disciples of Jesus there are many problems with each other that keep this from being a reality. But when disciples of Jesus are clothed with these virtues they can make things work out.

Forgiveness is the key to working things out. It is hard to forgive. People take advantage of us or cross us and we think that we have some right to never forgive. I know a person who has held a grudge for 45 years. One person I know has held a grudge against me for 7 years. We demand that others forgive us, but can we forgive others? It does not make sense to say, “I love God, but I hate you.” or “God can forgive me, but I will never forgive you.” The key is to always remember how Christ forgave us. 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” And 1 John 3:16, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” When we remember this then what little grievances we may have with another disappears. We can maintain unity with Jesus and one another and put on the greatest of every virtue, love, which binds us all together in perfect unity. (14)

Another by-product of practicing Christian virtues is peace. Let’s read verse15, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” Instead of anger and criticism, peace should rule the hearts of anyone in the body of Christ. Jesus gives us peace. God is glorified when there is peace among his people. People are attracted to Jesus when his people live in peace with one another and with God. Young people really want peace. Too often they can not find it at home. They surely can’t find it on their i-pod and at the movie theater. They can’t find it in their relationships. They will find it in Jesus and we need show it by living in peace among ourselves.

How is this peace achieved? Let’s read verse 16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” “Let the word dwell in you” implies that God is trying to do something through his word. Do not hinder his word with our unbelief or our business. Let God do what he is trying to do. Let the word of God dwell in your heart richly through deep and personal and quiet Bible study. Then we will see the peace of God descend upon our hearts like a refreshing morning mist.

The peace of God can grow among us in other ways too. Let’s read verse 16b, “…as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Christ gave us wisdom. What should we do with it? We are given wisdom to teach and encourage others. We can also influence others in the way of peace by singing spiritual songs and hymns. When we do, we can be joyful, peaceful Christians. I try to sing with all my Bible students. Most of the time it is me doing a solo in front of them. But eventually they try to follow and their hearts become open to the word of God. One of my Bible students, Cornell loves to sing hymns.

We can also promote peace by maintaining an “attitude of gratitude” in our hearts to God. An unthankful heart is the root of all sin. A complaining heart is like a snowball that is tumbling down a hill. It gets bigger and it picks up momentum. Eventually anyone stepping in front of it, to try to stop it, is going to get hurt by it. Satan cannot manipulate a heart that is thankful to God. Being thankful to God means being thankful for all that he has done in your life, all that he is doing and all that he will do. Thankfulness glorifies God.

Living for the glory of God promotes peace among God’s people. Verse 17a reads, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,…” This is linked to 1 Cor 10:31, which reads, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” God does not want his people living for their own glory and honor, trying to make a name for themselves, or trying to use the church to build up their own personal lives. How much peace and unity can a group of people have when they are all looking out for “number one”? The peace of God can come upon us, and among us, when we stop living for our own glory and live exclusively for the glory of God. When we live for the glory of God, all together then we can have unity and peace and attract a non believing world to Christ.

In this passage we learned that after receiving our new life in Christ, we must set our hearts on things above. This means to seek heavenly things, especially Jesus sitting on his throne. This is not just an idea or a once in life time event, it is a life style. We must put off our sinful nature and put on the new image of our Creator, Jesus Christ. We must put our old “self” to death and develop godly virtues in our lives. Then we can be one with Jesus and grow in oneness with one another as God wants us to be. We can maintain the love of God and the peace of God among us and attracting many young people to a new life in Christ. May God bless you.