1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Jesus, in what we know as the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 says that we are to be salt and light in our world. This means we are not to circle the wagons and just wait for His return. Instead, we are called to make a difference in the world, so what does this mean, and what kind of people are we to be?
How, as Christians, do we make an impact in our world? Today and next Sunday we will be taking a detailed look at what Paul teaches in the first part of Colossians 3, and a clue to the answer as to how we can make a difference is found in the subheadings added to our text. In the NIV translation it says, “Rules for holy living,” and the ESV and NASB say, “Put on the new self.” The NKJV heads this section with, “Not carnality but Christ.”
So, answering the question, how do we make a difference, begins by first recognising that we are to be different. The people who will be noticed are those who don’t really belong. 1 Peter 2:9 in the KJV says, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.”
Those who will make a difference will always have an alien, peculiar or foreign quality about them, and they will never really fit in with the crowd. Simply by being themselves they will challenge people and the values of society.
As Christians, our real identity and origin are not earthly, but heavenly, as Paul writes in verses 1 and 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 minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
We continue to live in this world, but in the previous chapter Paul wrote that we have died with Christ. This means we no longer belong to the world. Because of our spiritual rebirth, not only is our true citizenship now in heaven, but that reality should change how we live in this alien land, until such time as we go home.
The world needs heavenly-minded people as never before, and this is what Christians are when we live up to our true identity.
As Paul writes, we have been raised with Christ. The ESV translates verse 1 by beginning, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above,” while the NIV translation is better. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above.”
In other words, you already have been raised with Christ, therefore set your hearts on things above.
The rebirth has already happened. At the moment we are saved, we are completely and fully justified in the Father’s sight, and we have full citizenship rights in heaven. Once that wonderful truth really takes hold in our hearts and minds, it changes (or at least it should change) everything about how we view life and how we live out the rest of our days as foreigners in this foreign land.
Paul writes in Galatians 3:27 that as Christians, we “have put on Christ.”
The Christian is to be so closely identified with Jesus that our identity is now directly linked to Him. We have “put Him on” as Paul writes. When Jesus died on the cross, spiritually speaking, we died with Him and the old person no longer exists, because as Christ was raised, so were we.
That’s what spiritual rebirth is all about, and one day we will be physically raised in eternity. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
What Paul is doing in chapter 3 is to challenge the Colossian Christians, and by extension, all believers down the ages, to bring something of the quality of heaven to our world in practical ways. This world is broken, but there are many things we can do to counter this brokenness.
Those who have been raised with Christ are to seek the things which are above, and it is only those who have died and been born again who can do that.
You often hear of those who have yet to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ as “seekers.” There was a whole genre called the “seeker sensitive” church movement which began in the mid-80’s, but as with most man-made church fads, that has all but fizzled out.
The Bible does not describe non-Christians as seekers. It actually does the exact opposite, as Paul writes in Romans 3:10-18.
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Rather than seeking for God, unbelievers hide away from Him, just as Adam and Eve did the moment they fell into sin. It is God who does the seeking, not sinful man. Now, after by His sovereign grace, God saves us, Paul encourages us to seek the things above.
Notice also that Paul says we should seek the things above - not within. Our hearts cannot be trusted. We are not only saved by an act done outside of ourselves in the atoning death of Jesus Christ, but true Christian living, and the grace which sanctifies us after our salvation, comes from above, not within. Verse 1 again: “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is.”
What though, are we to seek? Firstly, we seek Christ Himself.
A life of Christian discipleship means a personal and determined response to Jesus’ call to follow Him. Our focus is Christ. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Secondly, we should be seeking the things which please God, and not ourselves. It’s logical if you think about it - if we pursue the things which displease God, we will only end up alienating ourselves from Him. Our desire should be to seek the things which please the God who saved us.
Paul gives us a list of some of these things, which we will look at in more detail next Sunday in verses 12 to 17. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
When we do these things, the world will notice.
Last week we looked at the story of Peter and John who were jailed for boldly preaching the Gospel in Acts 5. We are given the reason for their imprisonment in the previous chapter after they healed a lame man at the gate of the temple. “As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead - by Him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’ Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognised that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.” (Acts 4:1-14)
“They recognised that they had been with Jesus.”
We are not called to perform the same miracles the apostles did in the early days of the church, but when we seek Christ and the things which please Him and become powerful witnesses of the Gospel, those who don’t know Jesus should be left thinking, “there’s something about these people.” “They recognised that they had been with Jesus.”
Paul gives us practical things which we can apply in our lives as we take seriously our call to Christian living. He writes in verse 2, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
“Set your minds.” In other words, what occupies our minds and our thoughts? The human mind was designed by a holy God, which means our minds are meant to be used for His glory, but as we well know, our thoughts and the things which infiltrate our minds can be extremely destructive.
Our minds cannot think about the glory of God and sin at the same time, so again, it is as we seek the things that are above that we submit ourselves to God, rather than our sinful desires. James 4:7-8 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
What are we watching? What are we reading? What are the things that occupy our minds, and are they building up or breaking down our faith in Jesus Christ?
Paul has some excellent advice for us in Philippians 4:8. “Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
We’ll be singing the words later, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
Also, when Paul writes in verse 2 that we are to set our minds, the implication is one of a continuous activity. It should become second nature for us to direct our thinking away from sin and towards Jesus.
In verse 3, Paul teaches that our lives are hidden with Christ. There are a few things we need to consider here.
Firstly, the lesson is that the Christian life is a life with Christ. He is now the source of our lives. His risen life becomes ours. This helps us to understand what Paul meant in Galatians 2:20 when he wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
A true Christian life is lived in close partnership and identification with Jesus.
Secondly, because our lives are hidden with Christ, the life we now live is not of this world. Our lives belong elsewhere - above, even though we remain in this world for now. As the old saying goes, home is where the heart is.
It was in 1999 that I told my boss (who was not a Christian) that I was leaving to enter the ministry. He just sat there and said, “You know, I’ve seen this coming, but I just don’t understand it.” He didn’t realise it of course, but he was merely confirming what the Bible teaches.
To people who are not Christians, the Christian faith and what it means, is a complete mystery. Their minds are closed to a whole dimension of life that can only be understood through faith.
This doesn’t mean that Christians are cleverer than those who are not. It is only by the grace of God that He has sought us out and has saved us that we are able to see and understand these things.
1 Corinthians 2:14-16 says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
And thirdly, because our lives are hidden with Christ, we are safe in Him. Our enemy Satan cannot destroy our life in Christ because it is hidden within the very being of God. Now of course, this does not mean we will not suffer for the cause of Christ. Countless saints down the centuries have suffered tremendously for their faith, but the enemy can do nothing to prevent us receiving our eternal reward which awaits us.
Paul was under no illusions when he wrote in Romans 8:16-18, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” That is the life which is hidden with Christ.
Paul goes on from verse 5 with further practical lessons for us when he writes, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.”
The Greek verb behind the phrase ‘put to death’ implies that something dangerous is on the loose, which means that as Christians we cannot afford to drop our guard against those evil thoughts and desires. We all have first hand experience of the consequences of dropping our guard. We know how dangerous those things can be, because we fail so easily.
Look at the account of Peter walking on the water. While his eyes, and as a result his thoughts, were focussed on Jesus, he was fine, until he looked away. It was then that Peter began to sink.
Paul, in verses 5-9 gives us a list of the things we are to put to death. It is not an exhaustive list, because sin is such a broad brush which can and does affect and infect every aspect of our lives.
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another.”
The reasons we are to put these things to death are many. Firstly, as Paul has already written, we have been raised with Christ and our lives are now hidden with Him, but in verse 6 he warns us that the wrath of God is coming.
There is an important point we need to understand here.
This does not suggest that Christians who fall into these sins after salvation might lose it. If you are truly saved, you are completely and eternally saved. No true believer will ever have to fear the wrath of God.
Paul is making the point that those who are not saved remain under the judgment of God, and consequently, His wrath is coming, but the lesson for Christians here is that we should not want to live in such a way that there is little or no difference between our lives and the lives of the unsaved.
This is not our home, remember? This means we should live like we don’t belong in this sinful world. As Paul writes in verse 7 and 8, “In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away.”
He also writes in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Much forgiven, much delivered, much instructed, much enriched, much blessed, shall we dare to put forth our hand unto evil? God forbid!”
In verse 10 Paul says that we have “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge.” This renewal is another ongoing process that begins at the moment of our conversion, but is to continue as we grow in grace.
As we learn to put off the old way of life and embrace the new life in Christ, we will by default be seeking the things that are above.
In fact, Paul continues in verse 10 by saying we will be renewed in not only knowledge of God, but in the image of our Creator.
This speaks again of the new creations that Christians are. God does not make the occasional improvements here and there in our lives. Instead, we are given a radical new life as we die to self and now live for Christ. He removes our hearts of stone and gives us hearts of flesh, as He said to Ezekiel in chapter 36.
And then in the final verse we are looking at today, Paul makes a remarkable statement. “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free.” (Colossians 3:11) Such a statement would certainly have put the proverbial cat among the pigeons in Paul’s day.
These new lives we are given involve new relationships within the Body of Christ. Distinctions and separation based on racial, ethnic and cultural differences are all a result of our fall into sin, but there is no place for these things in the family of God. In Paul’s day the Greeks and Jews did not mix because of Israel’s dietary laws. The Greeks regarded themselves as civilised people, and all others were barbarians. Paul specifically named the Scythians, who were a nomadic tribe considered by most people in the 1st century to be the most uncivilised and primitive of people.
What Paul teaches in verse 11 is that in Christ, all racial, ethnic and social barriers can be destroyed. If Jesus died for both Jew and Gentile, who are we to put those barriers back up?
Paul counters such bigotry with his dramatic declaration at the end of verse 11. “Christ is all, and in all.” If we are going to be salt and light, if we are going to make a difference in our world, we simply cannot allow worldly divisions into the church to dictate what we think and act. This is why we are to keep our eyes on Christ, because He is our only hope.
He is our only hope of escaping the wrath and judgment we deserve, and He is our only hope of living the kind of lives that honour the God who saved us.
As we close, those of you who attended our Communion service on Tuesday will remember these words from the end of Romans 12, another lesson from the apostle Paul which teaches how to honour the name of Christ.
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honour. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honourable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:9-21)
Homegroup Study Notes
Read Colossians 3:1-11
Why, as Christians, are we to live different lives to those who are not saved?
The first point Paul makes is that we have been raised with Christ. (see also Galatians 2:20)
What does it mean to be crucified with Christ and raised with Him? How does this help us to respond to the call to live for Him instead of ourselves?
In verses 5-9 we are given a long list of some of the things which we are to “put to death” or “rid ourselves of.”
Why is this so important, particularly in the sinful world we are living in today?
It is tempting at times to retreat into a “holy huddle” from the world, and while there are times we need to meet together as Christians to encourage one another, we know that we are called to be salt and light.
What does this mean, and how can we make a difference in our little corner of the world?