Where Christ Is, Col, 3:1-2

OK, Colossians 3, 1, and 2. This is just absolutely unbelievable. We've actually completed Colossians chapter 2. That's just unreal, but yes, we have. Starting in chapter 3, and so these first two verses here will introduce the chapter. Now, as we look at this, yes, we're talking about chapters and verses, but the truth is that the chapters and verses were not inspired. The fact that there's a break there something that was inserted later. The chapters they put in around the year 1200, the middle 1500s they put in the verses, okay?

And so the break there shouldn't cause us to take a break from our understanding of what's being written. Paul didn't sit there and write this letter and break it up into chapter and verse as we did so that we could talk about, you know, where something is. Now, in this case what's happening is Paul is continuing his logic as he goes and continues his message to the believers there at Colossae. And he's made kind of a negative statement at the end of chapter 2. And he comes and follows his logic full circle here with a largely positive statement as we begin the first couple of verses of chapter 3. So, we have a logical and positive statement as we introduce this here. And now, we need to take a look at the big picture here. Alright? You ready to look at the big picture? That's not what I mean. Who does these things? Anyway, okay.

At the outset of our study, we said that the first half of Ephesians and Colossians, in generalization, tends to be about doctrine and our position that we hold in Christ, our eternally fixed position. Therefore, we find that there's little to nothing in terms of, here's what you need to do, here's what it means to you in terms of what you do and don't do. Instead, what we find is verse after verse after verse, explaining and describing, this is your position in Christ. These are your blessings in the heavenlies.

The second half of each of these books, and again generalizing, tends to be more focused on application. You will see statements of, therefore now, don't do this! And even in Ephesians, he gets pretty explicit, you who have been stealing, stop it. So, he does get explicit, but he doesn't do that until he first spends many, many verses calling those people who have been stealing saints and telling them their blessings in Christ. So, what we're going to do here is we're going to finish up these first four verses in Colossians 3 and then shift back to Ephesians.

Why? It's so that when we get to those areas of application where Ephesians and Colossians are so much in sync, that we do have them in sync and progress right through them in an orderly fashion. So, we'll be looking at each book side by side as we get there. Not yet. All right, now, the doctrinal portions and positions of these books shouldn't be thought of as just sort of theoretical, hypothetical.

All right, let's get past this stuff. The reason being this, they should be seen as a foundation It's just like this building. We don't take a lot of time looking at the foundation, but boy, am I glad we've got one, okay? Yes, I think there's there. Okay. The building foundation, typically we don't see it as much and we tend to focus on the structure because that's what we see. But the truth is nobody want a building without a good foundation, right?

Let me explain what I mean here. See, the doctrinal and positional portions, those are the logical basis for the application that follows. And we're going to see that in this very verse here. Paul wants all the believers to have a solid foundation in these positional truths. Absolutely essential. And he's laying that down here in this verse as well.

He doesn't want the believers to fall into shallow externalism or just stifling legalism. Here, do this, and then you'll be doing it right. Oh, okay. See, he doesn't want them to fall into that. He doesn't want them to fall into stifling legalism where the answer to all life's questions is just don't. Instead, He wants them to behold the Lord so that they will be transformed from glory to glory. We brought out last week that biblical faith is founded in the facts. Our culture is telling us, ramming it down our throats, telling us that feelings are the measure of everything. wrong if it feels so right. Let me illustrate the point.

Nancy and I have some friends. They've been friends for quite some time. Nancy was a bridesmaid at their wedding 19 years ago. The marriage broke up. My parents tried to talk to this couple. They've been family friends for a long time. After 19 years, it's all over. The husband went off with the bride's best friend.

And his answer? But it doesn't feel wrong. See? Feelings is what we're being told. Scripture lays out this. Faith is based on the facts, spiritual facts revealed by God. That's solid, not the feelings. Revealed facts center themselves upon Jesus Christ. And so when we come to this area of application and doctrinal truth, or positional truth, The application is what lays on top of the doctrinal and positional truth like a foundation.

You've got to have it. You can't do without it. Otherwise, all you end up with is stifling legalism. You end up with destructive externalism. A good foundation isn't optional. Let me explain. Let me illustrate this a little bit. Here's a house for sale, real, real cheap. Or, hey, why do you keep rolling onto my side of the bed? And, by the way, how come the bed keeps ending up on the balcony? Or, we skimped a little on the foundation, but nobody will ever know. Let me give you a little personal illustration.

Years ago, I was working in an engineering office, a consulting office in Ukiah, California. Some of you, I know, have relatives in Santa Rosa, to the south there. This is just north of San Francisco. Anyway, I was there at the engineering office, and I got this rather panicked phone call.

The guy's voice was not quite falsetto, but it was getting there. And so I said, well, what's going on? And he started explaining. He didn't take his time, believe me. He says, well, we got this snapping, cracking, popping noise from the beam in the ceiling that holds up the ceiling over our living room and the kitchen. I mean, the whole living room and kitchen vaulted ceiling is held up by this thing and it's snapping and popping. It's like popcorn. I said, get out. I said, I'll be there as soon as I can. So I tried to obey the speed laws and still get there. And I got there, there was indeed a continuing popping noise.

But what was interesting, that's where the problem showed up, but that's not where the problem started. I got underneath the house, which wasn't something I did without being real careful, but nonetheless, it was a snapped foundation that was making this popping noise and cracking up top. The snap in the foundation lost the support and all of a sudden this beam was having no support in the middle and it was designed to have support in the middle. Crack, snapple, pop, okay? And I said, okay, let's get something up to hold that roof up temporarily and we'll design a solution here, but you've got to get that foundation back in.

Illustration of why we study position and condition here, okay? We want the believers here to have a solid foundation in what your position is in Christ. That's what's going to last. Okay? That's what's going to last. The rules, they've already been done away with. The law, already been put aside and put out of commission. It died with Christ on the cross. These things are eternal.

You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus and the heavenlies. All right. As your handout here, you look on slide two here, and by the way, if you're with us here, I'll give you a little additional guidance if it's the first time. But your handout, I've got a little piece here that I'll keep shifting. the item is located up in the upper right-hand corner. Here, for example, is the one we brought forth last week.

It is with Christ, right now, it is with Christ that you are seated. It is with Christ where your life is. It is with Christ that you are blessed. It is with Christ that your life right now is. Okay? Christ is your life. Every spiritual blessing comes from where you are seated with Christ, right there. Every spiritual blessing is with Christ in the heavenlies. Every one. Biblical application comes from your identification with the One seated here.

That's why Paul doesn't start off saying, Hi, I'm Paul. Welcome all you saints. Now, stop doing this and start doing that. He instead goes several chapters explaining their blessings in Christ, explaining what their position is in Christ. Paul makes logical statements.

We saw one last week and we're going to see one here again this morning. If, then, and he frequently does that on the basis of having been identified with Christ as death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating. you're being identified with Christ. And one of the things that we find as we go through both Colossians and Ephesians is that the various statements that are made about do this and don't do that are not moral commands in the sense of something that you must do of your own strength and stand either approved or condemned on that basis. They are logical commands based on your condition, your position rather. and appeal for your condition to be consistent with your position, but the basis for the command is your position. We'll see more of that here as we proceed. The imperatives are repeatedly based on your identification with Christ.

Example in the very passage we look at here. Okay, so now, yes, we'll go ahead and get to the verse now, after all that preface. If ye then, the bottom line is he's going to start off with this logical statement. And in these verses here at the end of chapter 2 and now continuing here, there's an appeal to the logical basis in application based on your position. That's what's been laid out.

Colossians 2.20, we saw the basis for action. It was a logical basis in your position. Having been identified with Christ, he's going to do that again here in this passage. Having been raised with Christ, here's your identification. That's the logical basis here, right? Paul has been laying down these identification truths left and right, and he's continuing with it here.

We saw buried and raised in 2.12, made alive in 2.13, died in 2.20, and now again raised with Christ in 3.1, and he's not done. We'll see some more of it. Every case he's laying down logical conclusions based on your position. One of the things we note as we look at this passage, here are the verbs that come with the imperative, the command.

These are two verbs of response to the logic. How do I respond to the verse? Here's the logic that's laid out. Now, how do I respond? There is a response required here, folks. Yes, he's laid out position. Here is how it gets applied. Both of them are imperatives.

There is no other logical consequence that you can arrive at. No other logical conclusion. Therefore, not doing this is what we'll call spiritual insanity. It's nuts to do something else. It's absolutely crazy to do anything else. This is the sole spiritual sanity, if you will.

They're not advice, not suggestions, not just, boy, it'd sure be nice if you did this. This is the singular logical conclusion that you can draw based on what's been said before. You've been identified with Christ. That is the basis for all the rest that follows here.

Now, we could ask the question, isn't Paul just kind of being real cerebral? You know, isn't he just kind of got an awful lot of facts and information and logic? Oh, heavens. Isn't he just playing sort of a mind game with us here? I mean, this is, whoa. You're really trying to get people to logic out stuff on these things. I don't know about you, but I don't remember the nails going into me. Isn't this just kind of strange?

No. Paul really does care about our practical walk. He doesn't want us to end up with road rash. So anyway, he is concerned for application here, but he wants the application to be founded on real, spiritual history. He wants the application to be founded on real identification with Christ.

The singular logical conclusion that can be reached. So what does he say? Here's the first imperative verb. Keep seeking. King James has it simplified. Seek. Zeteo. This word in this context here means to earnestly seek from deep motivation. How about that? Since you've been identified with Christ, earnestly seek from deep motivation.

This word zateo is used in John 4.23. This is where Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well, the Father seeks worshippers.

Is the Father motivated? Is his motivation superficial? Absolutely not. It's a deep motivation. It's a continuing motivation. That same sense is conveyed in reverse here. Seek, you as a believer, It's a plural present active imperative. What does that mean? It means all. Like they said in Texas, all y'all. So he's writing to all the believers, all y'all. And he says, right now, you must, based logically upon your position, be right now continuing to seek earnestly. Now, what does that mean? That's his message there. Well, that's a lot built into a word, isn't it? Alright, so we're seeking earnestly. What? Good question. Weird guy, but good question. Okay.

The things above. Those things which are above, at first glance, this might sound like heavenly materialism. Now, wait a minute. Things above. Alright, I get the idea. Instead of golf clubs here, it's golf clubs there, right? Instead of some game machine here, it's a game machine up in heaven. Right? And that's what it is. Things above. Okay. Where Christ is. Okay?

It's been Paul's message all along, every bit, to tell believers that they have been identified with Christ and that they are in Christ. He's been telling them those things. What he's doing here, when he says things above, he's saying that all those things relate to Christ. who he is, who we are in him, who we are having been identified with him. That's his message here.

In the heavenlies with Christ. He's not changed, he's focused. Seated at the right hand of God. The phrase here has a couple of ideas that jump out. One is Christ is seated. Repeatedly we're told that. He's done with His cross work. It's finished. He said that. He is done with those things in which we've been identified with Him. His burial, His resurrection, ascension and seeding. Those are completed. Now in this fifth one of the Identifications Truth, we are seeded with Him. That's where He is. And the second, His seeding has a place. It's a place at the right hand of the Father.

It's a place of power and a place of blessing. In the Middle East, being seated in that culture meant to take a position of authority. Those of you who are joining with us, you'll notice that the overhead sometimes will have pictures that aren't included in yours, but just keep with us on this page and you'll be able to stay in tabs with us. This, for example, was Moses' seat in the synagogue at Chorazin. It's the seat of the leader of the synagogue, and so this would be an example.

This is a place of power and blessing. If you said something based on being in Moses' seat, that was a place of authority. Christ was seated, then, as a statement of authority and of his completion of all the work that he did for us. all of what He did for us. Several passages reinforce that, the very verse that we're looking at now being one of those. Being seated at the right hand of the Father.

It's a place, and I would say it's the place of power and authority. The right hand was a place of power and blessing. One of the things you notice if you read through the end of Genesis there, Jacob, renamed Israel, His blessing His sons, and He doesn't just pick any hand. The right hand. And I'm a lefty, so I'm not trying to be biased here, believe me. But the right hand was the hand of blessing.

And you see that continuing through both the Old and New Testaments. Christ was seated at the right hand of God, given the singular place. There isn't any greater place for Him to be seated. Given the singular place of power and blessing. We see that as a repeated message throughout the New Testament. Now, this is the second verb that's an imperative. Set your mind, and King James has set your affection there, for nail.

Some of you may recall that that's a word that showed up repeatedly in Philippians. We saw it eleven times in four chapters in Philippians. By the way, the only book that has more is Romans 12. in a whole lot more than the four chapters there. It's sixteen chapters, so there's quite an occurrence there. This is the only place, however, where the word occurs in Ephesians or Colossians.

This is it, right here. Let's take a closer look at what this word means. It says, set your mind. This word freneo shows up here. It means to have a mindset about something or someone. It's a total thing, it's not just cranial. It's the will, it's the emotion. It's the conscience, it's the affections. It is an all-encompassing word, not a narrow word. Everything about how you look at things, how you feel, how you respond, the decisions that are made, your total viewpoint, your total perspective, that's what this is saying. It also implies resulting in a proper course of actions.

That's a lot to pack into a word, isn't it? Here's this potent word, and that's why Paul uses it abundantly in Philippians, here sparingly, but at a very choice moment. Now, this isn't just packing your head full of Bible, okay? Stuffing all the facts in there, getting them stuck in your brain and saying, okay, now I've got the right for an A-O.

No, that's not what he's talking about. It isn't just getting an A on the test. It's not just a cranial exercise. It isn't taking your mindset pills. It's beyond that. This here is an imperative. It means the total mindset. The only logical conclusion based on your identification with Christ is this complete and total perspective including your will and the set of affections and your conscience. He's saying that must be based on your position. It's the only thing that isn't spiritually insane. That must be the mindset of the believer.

Absolutely. No other logical conclusion can be reached. Now we reach this phrase that shows up twice. The things above. We need to revisit this thing. These active imperative verbs direct believers to right now continue to seek and to be setting their minds on the things above. And it's all founded on the position that they have in Christ, eternally fixed. Those are the only actions that follow logically. Simple. Simple logic. It's based on the believer's position.

And finally, he says, not on the things that are on earth. This is his negative statement in this passage. He doesn't make too many of them, but this is one of them. Not on the things that are on earth. The one clear distinction that he wants to make there.

Our position in Christ puts the location with Jesus Christ as the logical conclusion. seeking and setting our minds on things above, related to Christ, Him personally. The things on earth offer no logical connection for the believer. Guess what? We've died to this world. Does the world have a message for you? Yes. Does it make any sense for you to follow it? No. We've died to this world. That's where our life is. That's the message that he wants to lay out here. They center around the person of and our history in Christ.

You know the personal history that you have? You don't have it. Yeah, you don't have it. You have His. Your history is now His. It's not yours. You know that thing you were thinking about? Boy, I sure wish I hadn't have done this. It's gone. Positionally, your history is His. You've been identified with Him. It is that identification in His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension and seeding. That identification is now yours. You lost your personal history. It's His that counts. It's His that matters.

You see, the world's trying to sell us on something. The world would like to sell us on something. It's short of the heavenlies. The world would like to sell us something that we've died to. The range of things that they would like to sell us on is infinite. They say, boy, we got a fantastic selection. It's all stuff we've died to. It's all something that is illogical. It's all spiritual insanity, but the world wants to sell us on it. That's not the right one. That's not it either. That's it. Okay. It's about where.

If you want to get to the right place, you have to know where it is you're going. So if you want to grow to the right place, you have to know where it is you're growing. Make sense? Ever start off, take some cross-country trip and haven't figured out yet which coast you're going to? Doesn't work, does it? You might not end up at either place if that's what you're going to do.

Growing is the same way. We can't just say, hey, I'm a Christian now, I think I'll just grow. No, you need to know where you're growing. You have to know where you're growing. That's exactly why Paul doesn't just start off and say, hey, I'm Paul, stop doing this, start doing that. He first says, wait a minute, I've got to tell these people where they're growing. Then he's got something worthwhile and substantial to say.

He writes about the believer's position and that's why we teach it here. That's why we don't start at the back of the books. Both of these books, begin by addressing the believer's position, because He wants the believers at Ephesus and at Colossae, both, to know where they're growing.

Location, location, location. The location where we've been called to seek and to set our mind isn't just something God said, hey, I think I'll have them do this. It's because that's where Christ is. It's because you've been identified with Him and that's where He's seated. The location of seeking and setting is because of who is seated there. So it isn't just a set your mind on heavenly things, the heavenly golf clubs and golf carts, the heavenly Christmas presents. No. It's Christ. It's because of who is seated there.

It's because He is our history. He is our past, He is our present, and He is our future. He is who we are. He is our identity. He is in us, and we're in Him. That's why. Makes sense? He is the one to whom we're being conformed. He's seated in the heavenlies. That's why. See, except why those two? I mean, you could have picked some other words, right?

Where we seek has to do with our motivations. Remember we said that seeking is deeply motivated? It's because we recognize the value of what we seek. You ever seek diligently for something you didn't give a hoot about? Probably not. So we recognize the value of who it is who is in the heavenlies. We recognize that that's a priority. The TV is blasting out messages at millions of dollars expense to tell you who you are. This is saying, no, that's already been settled. You're a believer. The world's message doesn't count.

We have a life-driven purpose for seeking. Where we set our minds is the frame of reference That's part of what he's saying. Set your minds. That's the perspective. That's the frame of reference. Our decisions, even here on planet earth, spring from that mindset. That's what he's trying to get across to them. The decisions we make here spring from my being there, from my identity in Christ and with Him.

You see, we're not just collecting more stuff. It isn't just saying, here's more stuff up in the heavenlies. Put it there instead of here. It has to do with Christ and who He is. The location that this passage points to, and we'll see some more in the next couple of verses next week, doesn't stop with just a place and with stuff.

You like stuff? He isn't just trying to sell us stuff. He is telling us about who. It's the who that He's pointing us to here. The focal point of our seeking and our setting of mind is Christ. It's Him. That's where all our blessings are. That's who we are in Him and who He is in us. So, how are we going to live here? Living here is from being seated with Him there. Life is lived here for His purpose. His purpose, His life, His purpose. Now, you've heard it said somebody was so heavenly minded, there's no earthly good. Well, we're going to turn that upside down. To be of any earthly good, we must be heavenly minded. Otherwise, you're no good at all! See? Completely upside down. Our motivation, our values, Our perspectives on this earth all come from there, and who we are seated with?

Christ. That's the place of value. That's the place that is worth seeking with deep motivation. That's the mindset and perspective that we have because of Him, because of having been identified with Him. It is with Christ, there and with whom? the one we are seated with.

We have a life-driven purpose, His life, as we'll see more next week. The life issue is a big one, because if you think about it, it isn't a matter of giving this life here on planet Earth, in the world, some kind of a purpose. It is a matter of our life being His. We have a life-driven purpose, and the life is His. The purpose is His. Because we're all about Him. We're in Him. We're with Him. He's in us. It's all about Him. We have a life-driven purpose. His life. His purpose. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage here, seeking and setting, those are real simple.

And yet, how profound. Lord, thank You for Your marvelous life. Thank You for a purpose. that lasts not just days, but eternity. Oh Lord, thank you ever so much. How can we be understanding enough? How unfathomable the blessings we have in you. What a marvelous eternal purpose, based on your purpose in your life. In Jesus' name, Amen.