Center of Attention

What a great thought in that
song that Rachel was playing. I know what error befalls me.
Jesus doeth all things well. God is sovereign, isn’t he? Would
the Lord’s people please open their Bibles to Paul’s letter
to the Colossians, and this time directly to chapter three, Colossians
chapter three. We, with Paul, have made this
transition into chapter three, where Paul has introduced a new
subject, really, an application of the doctrinal truths that
he has already set forth in the first two chapters. With all
the rich blessings that we possess as a result of the gospel, there
must be responsibilities that attend. And there are indeed. As Paul issues a series of 10
kindly exhortations here in chapter three, we find them to be the
application of those ministry truths for our day-to-day living
as Christians. These 10 applications, as we
saw last week, are spread over the lengthiest section of this
letter. from here in verse 1 of chapter 3, coursing all the way
down to chapter 4 in verse 6. Here, what Paul is discussing
is the Christian life, 10 different facets of Christian living. And
he addresses a broad range of subjects from our dealing with
sin, to relationships, From honesty in speech to prayer to brotherly
love and heavenly glory, all of these subjects are here and
more. Paul’s humble desire as a shepherd
is to have this church living and functioning as she is designed
to do by the Lord himself. A week ago, in our entrance into
this lengthy section, we read through it in its entirety. This
morning, we’ll dial it down to just the opening four verses
in chapter 3, verses 1 through 4. That section that we entitled,
Grasping for Glory. This is Paul’s initial exhortation
regarding our role in the sanctification process. So if you would, just
glance down chapter three, beginning at verse one. Therefore, if you
have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind
on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For
you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. And we began last Sunday there
in 3-1 under the preaching title, Grasping for Glory, where Paul
is calling the Colossian believers and us to an energetic Christian
effort, not to earn our salvation, but to participate in our sanctification. This is not, again, Paul doubling
back to works righteousness, and he’s not hereby robbing God
of his glory in the sinner’s salvation. Paul is not talking
to those who are outside of Christ, unbelievers, He’s addressing
those who are in Christ, Christians. And neither here is he promoting
a system of works, but rather works because of salvation, not
works in order to secure salvation. We noted this last week, four
times in this short section, Paul points specifically to our
Savior, to Christ. Twice in verse one, you have
been raised up literally in Christ, and then where Christ is. Then in verse three again, your
life is hidden with Christ. And again in verse four, when
Christ is revealed, you will be revealed in Christ, where
Christ, with Christ, and when Christ. Paul is speaking to those
who are Christians. Salvation cannot be merited by
good works, but once possessed, salvation will inevitably issue
forth in good works, humility and righteousness, prayer and
such. This is the advancement of the
process of progressive sanctification, and we are very much a part of
that as believers. God is still at work in the Christian
life, little by little, transforming the child of God into the likeness
of Christ. But in this sanctification process,
the Christian is not passive. The Christian is very much involved. And by God’s supply of grace,
there is great effort towards that growth. This is Paul’s echo
of what James, our Lord’s brother, says about faith and works. Remember,
James 2, verse 14, just listen. What use is it, brethren, if
someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith
save him? James goes on to answer his own
question, a rhetorical question, when he says in verse 17, even
so, faith, if it has no works, is dead being by itself. The
same God who does the work of salvation is involved in the
work of sanctification. There will be growth, there will
be works, there will be effort in the Christian’s life. And
so there are duties and expectations and effort that come right along
with genuine faith. And so here in chapter three,
Paul begins discussing what is expected of believers. We started
last week with a consideration of only one verse, verse one
of chapter three, where Paul insisted that the Christian’s
focus has been drastically altered. Our eyes, once enamored with
visions of the world, are now focused on heavenly things, the
things of God. Our whole focus, our whole perspective
has changed. For those who are in Christ,
everything is new. Everything has changed. And so
Paul says from the very outset, keep seeking the things above. It’s a strong encouragement.
It’s a demand. It’s an imperative statement. He calls us as believers
to an active pursuit of eternal blessings. They don’t just come
to us. The blessings of eternal glory
are there. Peace. grace, humbleness, holiness,
righteousness, genuine fellowship with other saints, brotherly
love, and the perpetual worship of God. Those are the things
that we will enjoy throughout all eternity. But they don’t
just happen. All of those blessings of salvation
are available but they must be desired, they must be sought,
they must be laid hold of in order to be enjoyed. And in that
context, Paul explained in verse one, the condition of our pursuit,
the condition of our pursuit. involved that little word, if.
Paul was not expressing doubt there, we saw, if you’ve been
raised up with Christ, or more accurately, since you’ve been
raised up with Christ. Because you’re Christians, because
God has already begun a work of grace in your life, keep seeking
the things above. That’s point two. That’s the
nature of our pursuit. It’s a dogged effort in the pursuit
of these eternal blessings. The third point that we considered,
not only the condition and the nature of our pursuit, but the
place of our pursuit. Our focus now is not the world.
Our focus now is where Christ is seated at the right hand of
God. Our focus is heavenly. But I told you last week that
there were two imperative statements. And the second one we find in
verse two, set your mind on the things above. This is the second
half of the exhortation to believers to focus our attention. And this
too is a command. And what Paul insists upon here
is that as believers, we are to develop a renewed mindset. As I mentioned, this is the twin
command parallel to the one in the previous verse. Together,
Paul uses them to urge an active pursuit of spiritual blessings.
Here he says, according to our translation, set your mind. translation is fine. Set your
mind on the things above. It’s fine. The word means to
come to understand something, to think on something, to have
something in mind. In short, it refers to our thought
process. Literally then, we could translate
Paul’s idea here as think on the things above, dwell on them,
focus on them, mull them over. This word is a favorite of Paul’s.
It’s only used about 20 times in the New Testament, but 17
of those are by the Apostle Paul. And I should point out that when
Paul uses this word, he often does so in a polemical way, much
like he does here. He issues a contrast between
two options. Let me show you what I mean.
Listen to Romans 8 verse 5. Paul distinguishes between those
who set their minds on the things of the flesh, as opposed to those
who set their mind on the things of the spirit. There’s a contrast. Things of the flesh or things
of the spirit. Likewise in Romans 12, verse
three. Contrasting those who think more
highly of themselves as opposed to those who think so as to have
sound judgment. They think accurately. They think
humbly. We see this as well in Paul’s
first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 11. It’s a
contrast either of thinking like a child, which Paul rebukes,
or as a mature person. There’s a contrast. And there’s a contrast here in
Colossians 3 as well. You see, there are those individuals
that are caught up in the world and they’re so completely immersed
in the thoughts and the things of this world. Riches, indulgences,
tastes and sights, pleasures, fame, influence, all of those
things become allures to us to pull us off of a focus on eternal
and heavenly things. There are those who are preoccupied
with worldly pursuits. And Paul knows that. And so the
word used here is used to compare and to contrast two different
kinds of thinking. And the same word is frequently
used to urge unity. In Romans 12, 16, be of the same
mind towards one another. Romans 15, 5, be of the same
minds with one another. Second Corinthians 13, 11, be
like-minded. Philippians 2, 2, make my joy
complete by being of the same mind. It’s the same word, but
what Paul is doing in urging his church by the use of this
word is a unity of the body in their heavenly focus, an admonition
to Christian unity. So that if you have one church
member whose focus is not on heavenly things. The goal of
the church is to come alongside and to shift the focus of that
individual. And we do that by discipleship,
we do that by confession, we do that by worship, we do that
by fellowship with one another. The word itself refers, as I
said, to a person’s thoughts and intentions. to set one’s
mind on something, to think or focus our thoughts and intentions
in a particular direction. And so it encompasses not only
our thinking, but our affections, our reasoning, with the development
of our convictions. It speaks of an intentionality,
a striving out of desire. Paul has already commanded his
readers to seek the things above, and he could well have left it
at that. Seek the things that are above.
But he adds this layer for emphasis. Here he addresses the process
of thinking that leads to the ability to seek the things that
are above. You see, thinking is the more
internal process. Seeking is the result of those
thought processes. And we will, as we should, think
on the things above long before we begin to seek them, right?
Once a person is saved, the new believer is drawn into the process
of sanctification. It’s a process of eradicating
sin and adopting godly habits. But as I said, that doesn’t just
happen. The foundation of such transformation
is the renewing of the mind. Before change in behavior is
ever implemented, the individual’s thinking must first be changed. And make no mistake, our thinking
must be informed. It must be educated and enlightened
by bathing our minds in scripture, by discovering and articulating
and yielding to biblical principles. Whether on our own or through
counseling or through the input of our brothers and sisters in
Christ, we must be about the process of developing a renewed
mindset. And in the passage before us,
verses, pardon me, two through four, Paul tells us three features
about the believer’s focus. If you would just glance down,
what he’s wanting to do is recenter our attention, helping us to
develop a renewed mindset, renewed by God’s grace and God’s spirit. The first element that he tells
us of here is there in verse two. It’s the object of the believer’s
focus. The object of a believer’s focus. Set your mind on the things above,
not on the things that are on earth. The first feature of the
Christian’s renewed mindset regards that on which he or she is focused. What is it that they are concentrating
on as motivation for their Christian life? If we are to develop a
renewed and godly mindset, we have to change what it is on
which we’re focused. If it’s the world, everything
remains the same. It only changes when we restore
our focus heavenward. Just as the racer’s focus is
the finish line, the Christian must have something in view,
some target, some goal, some standard. Otherwise, we’re literally
aimless, meandering to and fro, never quite sure where we’re
going or when we’ll get there, let alone the question of whether
we reach our goal at all. Paul sets forth again a contrast. It’s a this, not that proposition. The Christian is to be focused
on the things above, not on those of earth. And unlike some of
the examples I just shared a moment ago, the contrast that Paul presents
here is not a contrast so much between evil and good, as it
is between what is eternal and what is trivial, passing, temporal,
earthly in that sense. When Paul tells these Colossian
believers to set their minds on the things above, he points
out the positive focus first. And by this, let’s be serious,
by the things above, he isn’t speaking of clouds, He isn’t
speaking of celestial bodies like the sun, the moon, the stars
and such. He certainly isn’t talking about
airplanes and spacecrafts and satellites. I would even suggest
to you that he isn’t even calling attention to heaven itself. Mansions and streets of gold,
that kind of thing. As believers, I think we can
get way too fixated on that image. That whole line of thinking about
mansions usually ends in a debate, right, about whose house is going
to be bigger based on our faithfulness here on earth. I want to have one on Glory Avenue,
right? That’s kind of the mindset when
we start getting into the whole mansion discussion. It stems
from a misunderstanding of John 14 too. And there Jesus said,
in my father’s house are many dwelling places. You don’t get
your own mansion. You might get a room. In my father’s house are many
dwelling places. I go to prepare a place for you. that ought to have been enough
for us just to be able to come into Christ’s Father’s house. But through an embellished translation
of the scriptures and a whole lot of creativity, we tend to
turn that into something entirely different. Entire neighborhoods
of opulent mansions, they’re waiting for each one of us. Neither
should this be the Christian’s focus. And I would add that sometimes
throughout church history, the hymns have only stirred those
materialistic thoughts in believers. Songs about paradise and the
promised land, a garden, gates of gold, crystal seas, crowns
and mansions and loved ones and pearly gates and angels. And
on and on it goes. Listen to how common these thoughts
are in hymnody. Thinking only of the tendency
of these old hymns to think of the physical elements of heaven,
characterizing it as a land. The land above, the land of pleasure,
the land of rest, the land of God, the land of sunshine, happy
land. Glory land, Beulah land, beautiful
land, the promised land. Now please, you don’t have to apologize to
me if I catch you humming one of those old hymns. My point
is just this, that it’s not what Paul is referring to here when
he says, focus on the things above. I don’t think we should be fixated
on those lesser elements of eternal glory at all. What then? What does Paul mean when he says,
set your mind on the things above? And I would suggest to you that
he’s referring primarily to the things pertaining to God himself, his
character. We sang about God’s holiness
this morning. His Word, the Scriptures, they
are eternal. His principles, His worship,
in other words, things that are eternal, the things of God. To
set our mind on the things above is to cultivate a vibrant relationship
with God the Father through Christ His Son by means of the Holy
Spirit. this growth in sanctification
would be accomplished by means of communion with God. That is
to focus on the things above. It is from him that they would
seek grace for Christian character, humility and diligence and faithfulness,
godliness, patience toward others, graciousness, brotherly love,
a heart of forgiveness. Those things all come from communion
with God. If we are to be Christ-like in
our thinking and conduct, we must discover and dwell upon
these attributes of the Savior. Jesus, remember, is the author
and the perfecter of our faith. So for the believer, focusing
on the things above ought to become second nature. As our
faith grows, visions of heavenly glory become more vivid and more
real, more so even than the things of earth. We begin to see these
things as fleeting and passing. All earthly things, experiences,
flavors, attractions, they begin to pale in comparison to those
of heaven. And this, of course, leaves little
room for thinking, dwelling on the things that are on the earth.
By this, again, Paul is not referring to things necessarily that are
sinful. He’s simply referring to things
that are temporal, earthly in that sense. Even interests that
are tied only to this world. Things that are on earth point
to those material things, physical things, tangible things, ideas
and affections that are bound inextricably to this life. These things are not necessarily
sinful. But if we fixate upon those things
to the exclusion of heavenly things, then they can become
sinful. When we put these earthly affections
on the same level as heavenly affections, when we seek them
with the same intensity, we have already begun to sin. Jesus called them treasures on
earth, remember? Matthew 6, 19. And he did so
without disparaging the treasures themselves. The treasures themselves
are not necessarily sinful, but rather it was the obsession with
such treasures that Jesus discusses. It’s the insatiable appetite
for the things and the experiences of this world to the exclusion
of a heavenly focus. Earthly things, earthly possessions,
earthly pursuits, earthly affections are typically matters of passionate
affection in believers’ lives. Paul only instructs that we touch
or hold things like that very loosely, if at all. How clear that is right now to
us, how clear that is that our focus should not be on the world,
on the things of the world, given the fragile nature of our lives,
our nation, our world. Instead of focusing on and loving
this life and its things, we should be reading the scriptures. We should be developing our own
theology, our understanding of God. We should be doing Bible
study that leads to self-examination. We should be engaged in prayer
that yearns to be, not on the streets of gold, but with our
Savior in heaven. We should be reading spiritual
books that stir us to Christ likeness and to service of his
church. Well, that brings us to the second
feature of this renewed mindset. We find it in verse three. It’s
the reason for the believer’s focus. The reason for the believer’s
focus. If we’re developing a renewed
mindset, re-centering our attention, not only will we see the object
of the believer’s focus, but the reason. Paul provides it
here in verse three. For you have died and your life
is hidden with Christ in God. Paul now, as I said, gives the
reason for this heavenly mindset. What good is it? What’s the benefit? And we know that he does this
by that little word, for. He’s providing us the explanation
for the commands that he has given. And he explains to these
believers and us that we set our minds on the things above
and that we keep seeking the things above because we are no
longer of this realm. This isn’t our home. He bluntly explains that we have
died. Remember this? It’s a powerful
statement. A strong image. It is as strong
as Paul could express this thought. No wonder we’re no longer to
be focused on earthly things. We died to the earthly system
and its allures. What interest in such things
do dead men have? This idea that as Christians
we have died, it’s not a new thought, not in this epistle.
Back in chapter 2, verse 20, we saw it. Paul communicated
the same thought, and he presented it there as a given. If you have
died, since you have died with Christ, The same point in time
that Paul was referring to there is the same thing that he’s thinking
about here. That moment when we placed our
faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, we died. We died to our sin. We died to our old life. We died
to ourself. We died to the works of the law.
We died to our own righteousness. And we did take up our cross
and By faith in Christ, we began to follow Him. We died. We lost
our life by finding Him. As Paul explained this concept
to the Corinthians, in 2 Corinthians 5, one died for all, therefore
all died, that they might live no longer for themselves, but
for Him who died. You died. We died. And it’s not literal death of
which Paul speaks here again, but it’s a change of mind and
heart through repentance and faith that is so significant
that death becomes an appropriate metaphor. And so as believers,
we died with Christ, for Christ, in Christ. And then the second
statement of verse three, Paul makes another astounding comment
here. He says that having died, our
life as believers is hidden with Christ in God. What an amazing
image. We note that although Paul has
just said that as believers we have died, he immediately moves
to discuss the Christian’s life. It’s an intentional paradox.
Jesus employed the same figure. Matthew 16, 25, we looked at
it a couple of weeks ago. Whoever wishes to save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find
it. It is the believer’s newfound spiritual life of which both
Paul and Jesus speak. And if we have truly found our
life in Christ, look at what Paul says about this new life. It is hidden with Christ in God. What an incredible image. It’s
such a beautiful image of the state of the believer. Typically,
Paul uses the familiar phrase, right? You’ve heard it a hundred
times, in Christ. Very favorite phrase of Paul’s.
And that communicates much the same thing, that by faith we
are placed into Christ himself. We saw this a few weeks ago when
we considered Romans 6, remember? There Paul uses the image of
immersion to convey the same image, remember? Baptized, immersed
into Christ Jesus. It’s a fantastic image, but here
in Colossians 3, Paul communicates the same rich idea using different
words. The Christian who has died with
Christ now finds his or her life to be hidden with Christ in God. This word hidden is widely and
plentifully used in the New Testament. Jesus used this word. Jesus used
this word negatively with regard to the truth of the gospel. Matthew
5, 14, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot
be hidden. Likewise, with the parable of
the coins, used negatively, the man with one talent went away
and hid his talent in the ground. Jesus used the same word in a
positive way in the parable of the treasure in the field, remember?
There, the hidden treasure is discovered and secured. The word
is even used in a positive way of baby Moses, right? Hidden
by his parents. The word just means to hide,
to conceal something, whether for good or for ill. And it’s
used in both ways in scripture. But here in Colossians, it’s
absolutely used in a positive sense. where we are secreted
away from the devil and the world and even our old selves. And
we are hidden in the heart of the Savior. I told you it’s a
fantastic image. And we take note here that this
place of hiding, this place of security is only with Christ. If you’re outside of Christ,
there is no place of security. There is no place of hiding.
Now brace yourself because things are about to get really deep.
When Paul says that our life as Christians is hidden with
Christ in God, he effectively says that we are hidden away
in Christ as Christ is hidden away in God. As Jesus declared
to his apostles, John 14, after a little while, the world will
no longer see me. God, as we know, is invisible. He is a spirit. And Jesus, Paul
says, is hidden in God and believers within. The world cannot and
does not presently see or observe Jesus. We take him by faith,
do we not? He’s not yet manifested to the
world, not again. Christ is hidden in God and we
as believers are hidden with Christ. How completely safe is
the believer? Our life as Christians fully
known to God is completely obscured from the
world’s view. They don’t recognize you. They
don’t know how precious you are to God himself. But we come Finally,
to the third and final feature of the Christian’s renewed mindset,
the reward for the believer’s mindset. And this Paul provides
us in verse four. We’re looking at developing a
renewed mindset. We see the object of a believer’s
focus, the reason for the believer’s focus, and thirdly here, the
reward for the believer’s focus. Verse four, when Christ who is
our life is revealed, then you will be revealed with him in
glory. The third feature of a renewed
mind here is essentially the benefit or the fruit of such
renewal. The believer’s reward. There’s
another reason for developing a heavenly focus here. There’s
blessing in the end. Before we look at the main thought
of this sentence, would you just observe Paul’s description of
our Savior? Christ, he says, who is our life. And I want you to see this. Paul
doesn’t just say that Jesus gave us life, although that’s true.
He doesn’t just say that Jesus is the author of life, although
that also is true. He doesn’t say that our life
with Christ, pardon me, that our life is with Christ, or even
more dramatically, that our life is in Christ, although those
things are also true. He says that Christ is our life. And as spectacular as that thought
is, this is not the only place in Scripture that it’s uttered.
Think of this. In the gospel of John chapter
1 verse 4, the apostle declared of Christ, in him was life. In other words, outside of Christ
there is no life. John chapter 14, Jesus declared
it of himself, I am the way and the truth and the life. Outside of Christ there is no
life. Paul declared this truth, to
the Philippians in 121, to me to live is Christ. Galatians
2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me. Christ is our life. And now if we could, let’s press
on to the bulk of this sentence. Paul’s argument here is really
the balance to the statement that he makes in verse three.
There he says that our life is hidden with Christ in God. Here in verse four he says there
is an uncovering of that which was hidden. And the Christian’s
experience is completely tied to Jesus Christ. Look, if you
will, at the initial portion of this sentence, when Christ
is revealed. It’s an incomplete sentence. That portion is really just a
temporal clause. It gives us information, but
it doesn’t give us the entire thought. It tells us only about
the time of the action, when Christ is revealed. And there’s a suddenness, there’s
an abruptness to this clause. It kind of bursts in uncomfortably. Paul could have just launched
into the declaration that we will one day be revealed with
him. But he precedes that statement
with a dramatic buildup. When? When Christ, who is our
life, is revealed, Right now we’re hidden. One day
we will be revealed. This is what Paul tells us in
the latter half of the sentence. When Christ is revealed, then
you also will be revealed. And Paul tells us that this hiddenness
in Christ is not a permanent arrangement. Just as Jesus will
be revealed, so also will his people, his church. What Paul
is alluding to here is Christ’s ultimate return, his second coming. Then Christ will be revealed
to the world in his fullness, in glory and power. At that time,
all of those who are hidden in Christ will also be revealed. They will be manifest to the
world. What wonderful news this is.
What incredible news this is. Right now, both Christ and his
followers, his church, we’re obscure, we’re unimportant, we’re
ridiculed, we’re slighted, we’re seemingly insignificant. But
when Christ is revealed, think of this. Course your way through
the New Testament. When Christ is revealed, we will
be glorified with Christ. Romans 8, 17. 1 Peter 4, 11. We will be made alive, 1 Corinthians
15, 22. We will be changed, 1 Corinthians
15, 51. We will put on an imperishable
body, 15, 52. We will be revealed, 2 Thessalonians
1, 7. We will be saved. We will be
entirely sanctified, 1 Thessalonians 5, 23. We will be declared citizens
of God’s eternal kingdom. And with him, we will reign and
judge. 1 John 3, 2, we will be like Him. Just as the Savior knows us fully
now, He knows you fully now, when He is revealed at His return,
we will be fully known as we are truly in Christ. This is
what Paul refers to when he appends those final words in glory. The glorification of the believer
is a beloved doctrine to the Apostle Paul. He speaks of it
frequently, affectionately, and longingly. Paul can’t wait to
be glorified. To these dear saints in Colossae,
he reminded of the truth of Christ in you, the hope of glory. To
the Thessalonians, he encouraged that God had called them through
the gospel that they might gain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the Romans, he comforted them
with the assurance that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed
to us. to the Philippians. He left them with the hope of
our citizenship in heaven, for which the Lord Jesus will transform
the body of our humble state into conformity with the body
of his glory. We will be glorified. Christ
glorified, we will be glorified with him, and we will enjoy that
glory, God’s glory, throughout all eternity. And so Paul here
assures that as believers, we will one day stand complete in
his glory, perfected in holiness before all. What an incredible
truth this is for the Christian. Would you humble yourself before
him?