Colossians 3:1-11
I’m going to read some scripture from Colossians chapter 3. The first four verses, words are on the screen, and you can follow along. This is what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Colossae.
And then we’ll look into this passage. Since then, you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory.
We are looking through the book of Colossians, and we’re really about halfway through. So, we finished Colossians chapter 2 last Sunday, and now we’re in the second half of the book. There’s four chapters in Colossians.
By the way, the chapter divisions were given in the 13th century. So that’s really helpful. Can you imagine trying to find someplace in Psalms, which has 150 chapters without those chapter divisions? So, we’re halfway through.
The first two chapters of Colossians are more doctrinal, correcting some doctrinal teaching about who Jesus is and the way of salvation. When we get to chapters 3 and 4, it’s more practical, some application. In other words, how should we as believers in Christ live? And so, we’re going to look at Colossians chapter 3, the first 10 verses.
And rather than giving my normal outline, sometimes I just like to ask some questions from the text and try to answer them. And so that’s what we’re going to do this morning as we think about Colossians chapter 3. And here’s the four questions we’re going to ask. What does the scripture mean when it says we’ve been raised with Christ? That’s how this text starts out.
Since then, you have been raised with Christ. And so, we want to understand what’s Paul talking about there? Secondly, we want to ask the question, what difference should that make in our life? What impact should that truth have for you and me? Thirdly, we want to ask and answer the question, where is the physical body of Jesus right now? And what is he doing? And then lastly, we want to think about how does spiritual change and transformation happen in our life? How do we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus? And that’s the last part of the text.
1. What does scripture mean when it says we have been raised with Christ?
So, let’s look at the first question from Colossians 3:1. What does it mean when it says we have been raised with Christ? Let me read the text again. Since then, you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. So, four weeks from today is Resurrection Sunday.
The great Sunday where we get to celebrate the historical event of the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Without that doctrine, Paul writes to the Corinthians, if Christ hasn’t been risen from the dead, we’re liars, we’re false witnesses, we’re still in our sins, and we have no hope. But then he says, but Christ is risen from the dead.
And so, Paul’s writing to these believers at the church at Colossae, and he tells them that we have been raised with Christ. Now we know that the resurrection of Jesus guarantees our future resurrection. 1st Thessalonians 4, there’s a day coming when Christ is going to descend from heaven, and Paul explains it to the Thessalonian believers.
There’s going to be a trumpet sound, there’s going to be a shout, and the dead in Christ are going to rise first. Christ is going to resurrect our physical bodies someday. But when Paul writes to the Colossians, and he says you have been risen with Christ, he’s speaking past tense.
So, what does he mean when it says you have been risen with Christ? Well, if you know your New Testament, the Bible talks about two Adams. There’s the first Adam, he was the representative of all the human beings in the Garden of Eden, and he made a bad choice. And that bad choice of sin that Adam made plunged the entire world, every human being that was born since then was born in sin because of Adam’s choice.
You might say, well, that doesn’t sound fair, but that’s the biblical truth. That sin came into the world through one man, 1st Corinthians 15:21 and 22. Since death came through a man, that was Adam, physical death, spiritual death, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man, for as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
So, Jesus is referred to as the second Adam. And when Jesus died on the cross, if we are in Christ, we were actually united with him. There’s an old hymn that asks the question, were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Were you there when he rose from the dead? And the answer to that, if you know Jesus, is yes, because you have been united with Christ when you received him as your Savior, and you were actually there with him when he died.
He died for you. When he rose again, he rose again for you. And so, the Bible talks about these two representatives, these two heads, the first Adam that plunged us into sin because of his wrong choice, and the second Adam, who is Jesus.
Here’s how Paul describes it in Romans 6, verses 3 through 5. Or don’t you know that all of us were baptized into Christ Jesus? He’s not talking about water baptism there. The baptism of the Spirit is when we receive Jesus as Savior. The Spirit of God places us into the body of Christ.
He puts us in Christ. So, don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Here’s how Dr. Warren Wiersbe, the late great preacher, wrote that B series of Christian books that many have read. He says this, I am in Christ and identified with him. Whatever happened to Christ happened to me.
When he died, I died. When he rose again, I rose again spiritually. So, Paul says, I’m crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives within me. Now this is the beautiful picture of water baptism, immersion.
And we’re going to have a baptism here in a couple weeks. And I would encourage you that if you haven’t followed the Lord in baptism, if you know Jesus as your Savior, he would like you to take that step as a way of publicly identifying with what Jesus has done for you. And I know baptism can be a very confusing issue because various churches teach different ways and modes of baptism and actually meanings of baptism.
There’s no saving value in baptism. But baptism, according to the New Testament, we look at it as the biblical pattern. So read the book of Acts.
Acts chapter 2, the church is born. 3,000 people come to faith in Christ. What’s the next thing they do? 3,000 people are baptized.
Philip leads the Ethiopian official to faith in Christ. And he’s in a chariot, and there’s water there. And after he receives Christ, he’s baptized.
The Philippian jailer is saved in Acts chapter 16. And what happens to the jailer and his family that come to know Christ? They’re baptized. So, it’s the biblical pattern, and it’s a biblical picture.
And the way we do immersion is it pictures what? The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Go down under the water. Jesus died for me, was buried for me.
Come up out of the water. Jesus rose again for me. And then it’s the biblical proclamation of letting others know that you’ve taken that step of faith in Jesus.
Paul says, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it’s the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. And so, what does Scripture mean when it says we’ve been raised with Christ? In one sense, it’s already happened because we were there in Christ. We also have a future resurrection to look forward to.
2. What impact should this truth have on our lives?
Well, here’s a second thought and question. What impact should that truth have on our lives? And it’s right in the text because Paul tells us in verse 1 and verse 2, set your heart on things above. Verse 2, set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
So, what impact should it have that we’re given new life in Christ, that Christ died for us and was buried and rose again for us? It should eternally impact our lives. Jesus changes everything. Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians 5:17, if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creation.
The old has passed away, all things have become new. And so now to set your heart and mind on things above is that we look at life, we look at the world, and we look at our perspective from an eternal perspective. We look at life differently.
We should have different priorities. Psalm 49, it’s a great psalm. And the psalmist in Psalm 49, verses 16 and 17, writes, do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increase, for they will take nothing with them when they die.
Becoming a believer should change our perspective about money and finances. The question to John D. Rockefeller years ago, how much did he leave? All of it, all of it. So, the Bible says, do your giving while you’re living.
Well, this isn’t in scripture, but somebody has said this. Let me correct that. Do your giving while you’re living, then you’re knowing where it’s going.
And so, it should impact our lives. There’s a great little book called The Treasure Principle, written by Randy Alcorn. And he writes about this whole matter of how Christ should impact the way we look at life.
Here’s the treasure principle. You can’t take it with you, but you can send it ahead. It’s what Jesus said in Matthew 6:19, and 20.
The Sermon on the Mount. Don’t lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where what moth and rust and thieves will come in and steal it, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And so, we need to have an eternal perspective.
Here’s some of his other treasure principles. Heaven, not earth, is our home. Heaven, not earth, is our homes.
So, the Bible describes believers as pilgrims or passing through. Paul writes in Philippians; our citizenship is in heaven. And so Randy Alcorn says, are you living for the dot, which is our life here on earth, 60 years, 70 years, 80 years, 90 years, maybe a few more, maybe a few less, or are we living for the line? And the line is what? Eternity.
And so, what impact should this truth have? It should change the way we look at all of life. So, we should ask ourselves some questions. How can I best use my time to advance God’s kingdom? How can I invest my time to live for something that really matters? How can I best use my giftedness, my talents to advance God’s kingdom? How can I use my treasure to advance God’s kingdom? Jim Elliot, the missionary that lost his life in Ecuador through the Aka Indians, made a famous statement.
He says, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. What’s Jim Elliot saying? We need to live with an eternal perspective, with eternity in view. So, over the course of the next three months here, we’re going to have some missionaries that are going to come and share their ministries with us.
And in a couple of weeks, a fellow by the name of Ben Lowe and his wife Donna are going to be here.
They’re going to be here in April. And then, Lord willing, we don’t have this date nailed down yet, but in May, Pastor Semei from Lasting Smiles Uganda is going to be in the United States. And probably going to be able to come here and share.
All that to say, that’s going to give us as a church an opportunity to pray for these missionaries and to invest in their ministry who are making a huge impact for the cause of Christ. Let me give you a little background from Ben and Donna Lowe, who are going to be here in a couple of weeks. And he’s just going to share about 10 or 15 minutes in the morning service about their ministry.
And then probably have a question-and-answer time after our fellowship time. So, here’s the background of Ben and Donna. I’ve not met them personally, but I’ve talked to Ben extensively on the phone.
Here’s their background. They’re with Tactica. If you remember, Tactica was one of the missions that in our Celebration Sunday, Ryan Rott was here, the founder of Tactica, teaching truths to police officers around the world.
It’s a tremendous ministry. So, we were able to give $10,000 at Tactica’s ministry. So, here’s Ben and Donna’s background.
We originally became connected with Ryan and Gretchen Rought about nine years ago through Ben’s parents’ church who support Tactica. We have gotten closer and more involved over time. Ben began going on mission trips with Tactica, and it changed our lives and transformed our world.
Ben has been in law enforcement his entire career and currently serves as the undersheriff in Roscommon County. We’ve been connected to Tactica for many years and always thought that we would serve with the ministry after we retired. However, the pull into missions has become stronger and stronger, sooner than we had thought, and God is clearly calling us now.
Originally, the sheriff of Roscommon County planned to retire at the end of this year, 2026, and turn the sheriff’s office over to Ben as the sheriff of Roscommon County. However, as God has called us into ministry, Ben has had conversations with the sheriff over the last six months about what God is doing in his life. Ben announced to the entire agency at a meeting in January that he will not be staying as sheriff and will be leaving to go into full-time missions with Tactica.
I talked to Ben on the phone, and he’s so excited about what God’s doing in their lives and through the ministry of Tactica. He’s saying that when he announced that, you know, they were grooming him to be the sheriff of Roscommon County, when he announced that he’s not going to take that position and he’s going to go into these full-time missions where people are like, what is wrong with you? You’ve worked your whole life to get to this point. And Ben’s life’s been changed.
He recently got back from a trip to Panama where they ministered to Panama police officers and did some tactical training with them. And in that trip that week while they were there, 11 Panamanian police officers put their faith in Jesus. And so, what impact should this truth have on our lives? It should change the way we think and change the way that we act and change our priorities.
3. Where is Jesus right now and what is He doing?
All right, let’s look at the last two here very quickly as we begin to wrap this up. Here’s our third question. Where is Jesus right now, and what is he doing? Well, let’s write in the text, and it’s all through the New Testament.
We’ve already read it, but let me read it again. Since then, you’ve been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above where Christ is.
Here it is. Seated at the right hand of God. Jesus, the physical body of Jesus, when he ascended up to heaven in Acts chapter 1, death, burial, resurrection, 40 days of post-resurrection appearances.
Then Jesus ascended to heaven. The disciples were in the upper room for 10 days praying. Then the Holy Spirit came and the church was born.
But when Jesus went back to heaven, the scriptures tell us that he sat down at the right hand of God. The book of Hebrews mentions that as well. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.
So right now, Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. In one sense, it symbolizes that his finished work on the cross is completed. Jesus paid it all.
There’s nothing more he needs to do for salvation. And so that’s the symbolism of sitting down. I don’t know if you’re like me, but I like to get to the point in my day where we say, I’m done for today.
Tomorrow’s another day. And so, we go through our day and have a busy day. And for Diane and I, usually it’s at about 7 o’clock, 7:15.
When finally done with our responsibilities, involved with grandkids, eat dinner, do some chores, finish, clean up the kitchen. At about 7:15, we both sit down like we’re done. We’re done.
Give me the news. Wheel of fortune and jeopardy. We’re going to watch that.
And we are done for today. Well, that’s kind of what Jesus is doing. He’s seated at the right hand of God the Father.
He is done. But he’s not just doing nothing. Hebrews 7:25 says he’s making intercession for you and me.
Let me read the text. Hebrews chapter 7, the last part of verse 25. I’ll read the whole verse.
Therefore, Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. In other words, Jesus is praying for us. Yes, our sins have been forgiven, but Jesus is interceding for us.
Now, what happens? Picture Job chapter 1 where Satan is actually in God’s presence. God says to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? He’s an upright man. And Satan basically says, well, yeah, Job’s living for you, but that’s because he has an easy life.
That’s because he’s rich. That’s because you’ve blessed him. That’s because he has his health.
That’s because you’ve given him all these wonderful things. Start to take that away and see what he does. And so, the book of Job has this interesting conversation between God and Satan.
Now, in the book of Revelation chapter 12, verse 10, it calls Satan the accuser of our brothers and sisters who accuses Christians before our God Day and night. It almost sounds like Satan still has access and could be up in heaven and when one of us maybe stumbles and falls and sins, he’s like, oh, yeah, look at this person. And Jesus would say to Satan, that sin’s already been taken care of.
I paid for that sin on the cross. Jesus is interceding for us. He is praying for us up there in heaven.
4. How does transformation take place in our lives?
All right. Last question, number four from Colossians chapter three. And this is the second half of the text here.
And it’s basically asking the question, so how should we then live? If when we put our faith in Jesus, what does that entail to become more like Christ? How should we then live? How does transformation take place in our lives? The Bible identifies three enemies of a Christian. The world, that’s the world system that is anti-God. And if you don’t know what’s going on today, our world system is anti-God today.
The flesh, that’s our human flesh. We’re still tempted to sin. We still fall and stumble and sin.
And then the devil. There’s opposition, spiritual opposition, devil and demons. So, when we live the Christian life, all our sins are paid for, but we still struggle with sin.
Paul writes about that in Romans chapter seven. He says, the things I want to do, I don’t do. The things I don’t do, don’t want to do, I do.
Oh, wretched man that I am. There’s Paul struggling with sin. So, Paul gives some instructions here of what we’re to do, how spiritual transformation takes place.
And he starts it in verse five. Here’s what he says. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature.
He names five sins, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived.
So, your BC life, before Christ’s life, was characterized by all these things. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as, and here he adds five more things to get rid of. Five more sins.
But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these anger. Is anger always a sin? No. There are times when it’s wrong not to be angry.
When we look at the injustices of our world. We’re to love good, but we’re to, what, hate evil. The whole organization, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, was started because one woman whose son was killed by a drunk driver got angry enough and mad enough to say, we need to do something about this.
And so, anger isn’t always a sin. Be angry and sin not. Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath.
But many times, it is. So, get rid of yourselves of all such things such as anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and put on the new self which is being renewed in the image of its creator.
And so, Paul says now you need to put to death sin. You need to get rid of these old sins and old patterns of living. Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter 4, take off the old man and put on the new man.
God’s given us some resources to do that. God’s word, we need to be in God’s word. And that will help us, number one, identify what sin is.
We need to understand the holiness of God. God is holy and God cannot stand sin. He hates sin.
The more we understand the holiness of God, the more we’ll see sin in our life. It’s kind of like, and I’ve had this experience, going into a dimly lit bathroom and looking in the mirror and, you know, I’ve done that like, hey, I think I’m looking pretty good. Later that day, I’m in another bathroom with really, really bright lights like, oh my goodness.
Yeah, I need to make some changes here. That’s the way it is with the holiness of God. The more we understand and see the holiness of God, the more we become aware of our sin.
And so, we need to put off sin and put on the new man. That means being in God’s word. It means praying.
It means being connected to a fellowship of believers where we can pray for one another and encourage one another. It means living in the power of the Holy Spirit. Connecting to the Spirit’s power that Paul talks about in Galatians chapter 5. He says, so I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit desires what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other. And so, living under the power and the influence of the Holy Spirit, Paul writes about in Ephesians 5:16, keep on being filled with the Spirit, with God’s word, the Spirit of God.
The prayer that I make every morning is straight from Scripture, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart today be acceptable to you, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Lord, would you help my thoughts and my actions in the power of the Holy Spirit to be pleasing to you. And so, there is the sin nature that we still have after we come to know Christ, but there’s another power of the Holy Spirit that is more powerful than that sin nature.
And that’s why Paul says, walk by the Spirit. My brother-in-law, Diane’s got one brother. He’s 81 years old, lives in central Florida, and Dale was a school teacher.
He joined the Air National Guard early in his career and flew fighter jets for the Air National Guard and retired as a lieutenant colonel. But later on in his career, he got hired by American Airlines. And so, he’s been retired for 21 years now, because back when he was flying for American Airlines, mandatory retirement at 60 for pilots.
I think that’s changed since then. So, he retired 21 years ago. And I remember him showing me a picture last time we were down there that he has on his desk.
And it’s a picture of him standing, I would say, under an airplane, a jet airplane, and it’s the largest airplane that you can fly. And I don’t know what the name of it is. I should have researched it.
But he’s standing underneath this engine that is just dwarfing him. And he is proud of, you know, this is the plane that I flew in the last part of my career. And when you look at that picture, like, what incredible power in those engines to take this huge plane filled with people, filled with hundreds of thousands of pounds of fuel.
And what’s it able to do? It’s able to, through that power, overcome gravity and get up into the air. The Apostle Paul says, that’s a picture of the Spirit of God in our life. As we submit to him, as he controls us, as he begins to change our thoughts, begins to change our minds, begins to change our priorities and our desires, we can have victory over sin.
So, my friend Carl Clausen wrote a book entitled Seven Resolutions, and one of the resolutions is in that book is to kill sin. Here’s what he writes, three weapons or tools for putting to death sin in our lives, to having victory over sin. He lists them.
Number one, expose it. Expose it. So, we need to bring our sin to the light.
We need to admit what our sin is. First John, chapter one, verse eight, John says, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So yes, we should progress in our sanctification, in our Christian life, but not on this side of heaven will we ever fully have victory over every sin in our life.
That’s going to be when we get to heaven called glorification. And so, the Bible says we need to be honest, we need to expose sin, bring sin to the light by confessing it to God, and if necessary, another trusted friend. James 5:16, confess your sins to one another.
There’s one God and one mediator between God and man, the person in Christ Jesus, but this is talking about accountability. And if we keep struggling with a sin over and over and again, if we’re going to get serious about it, we need to name it and maybe ask for another friend, a close friend that we can confide in to help us with some accountability. And so, he says, we need to expose it.
Then he says, we need to attack it. Whatever that sin is, he says, we need to cut off the supply. Kind of what the American military force is doing in Iran right now.
They are bombing those missile launchers so that Iran can’t shoot back. Go to the very source, cut off the supply. And then lastly, he says we need to overwhelm it, and when he means overwhelm it, we need to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, Colossians chapter 3, we’ve been raised with Christ, if you know Jesus as your Savior, because we’ve been united with him. When he died, we died. When he rose again, we rose again.
And that should change our life. It should change our priorities. It should change our affections.
Second Corinthians 4:16 through 18, the apostle Paul writes these words about the change in our life. He says, therefore, don’t lose heart, though outwardly we’re wasting away, yet inwardly we are becoming renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
Here’s the application. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. What is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal.
And so, we have a new perspective. We look at life from a different lens. We look at our friends and neighbors and relatives who don’t know Jesus as people who need to know what the truth of the gospel, otherwise they’re going to spend eternity separated from him forever.
Whereas Jesus and what he’s doing right now, Jesus right now is seated at the right hand of God and he’s interceding for you and me. And when Satan, the accuser, the brother comes, Jesus says, I don’t want to hear it. They’re forgiven.
How does transformation take place in our life? We need to get serious about sin. We need to bring it to light. We need to expose it.
We need to have victory over sin through the power of the spirit in our lives. There’s a great prayer in the end of Psalm 139 that the psalmist prays. In the last two verses of Psalm 139, here’s what the psalmist writes, search me, oh God, and know my heart.
Test me and know my thoughts and see if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. What’s the psalmist praying? Lord, would you show me some areas in my life that I need to deal with and that I need to confess, expose it and confess it and have victory over sin.