Colossians 3:1-4 –
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.
Introduction
If you were here for our time in Ecclesiastes, you certainly remember that the invaluable gift of the book is its description of a nearly exhaustive and futile search for satisfaction “under the sun”. In other words, Ecclesiastes is the story of a man (“the Preacher”) who unsuccessfully tried everything there is among the “things that are on earth” in an attempt to find true and lasting joy in them. He tried excessive amounts of money, work, sex, wisdom, entertainment, servants, houses, gardens, etc., and while they provided a quick buzz, they all ultimately proved to be empty.
Of all that, the Preacher wrote, “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14).
Ecclesiastes is a gift in that it shows us that as long as our eyes are on the things of earth, we will not find genuine joy; always lust, never fulfillment; always winter, never Christmas. It’s a gift in that it frees us from wasting our time in looking for meaning and purpose and significance and joy where they cannot be found.
But if not among the things “under the sun” or “that are on earth,” where are those things found? As true as the Preacher’s conclusions were, they’re only half the story.
If the Preacher of Ecclesiastes had the full revelation of God, Colossians 3:1-2 would have been his grand conclusion. In that way, our passage is like answer to the lingering question of Ecclesiastes. The two passages are a perfect complement to one another.
Therefore, with a fuller revelation from God, “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints” (2:16), Paul answered, “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” (3:1-2).
True satisfaction is not found among “things that are on earth,” (as the Preacher rightly, albeit painfully observed), but in “things that are above.”
Paul’s main plea is for the Colossian Christians (and you and I), is to lift our eyes above the earth; to look for the source of all satisfaction where He is found and in what He has done. And in God’s loving-kindness, He inspired Paul to explain a bit of how and why He means His people to do that.
In a word, it’s this simple idea: By grace, through faith in Jesus, you died to your sins, your soul has been raised with Christ, your life is hidden in Christ, and you will appear with Jesus in glory, therefore, let your eyes (your appetites and thoughts) follow.
Look up, Christian! Because of what God has done and will certainly do for you in Jesus, lift your eyes above the temporary buzz of earthly joy and the light momentary affliction of your troubles and trials. Look up to the One who is risen and who gives resurrection. And then live entirely in light of what you see.
Christian, Know What God Has Done (1, 3, 4)
Let me repeat the logic of this passage before working through the various components of it.
By grace, through faith in Jesus, you have died to your sins, your soul has been raised with Christ, your life is hidden in Christ, and you will appear with Jesus in glory, therefore, seek Christ with all you’ve got. Know what is true of you, know what God has done for you in Christ, and then live entirely in light of that.
There are imperatives (commands) to follow, but we’ll never honor God in our obedience to them if our obedience isn’t rooted in the indicatives (objective truths) and promises of God.
That is exactly how everyone in Christ ought to think all the time, but it is especially true when we find ourselves in times of difficulty, as the Colossians did.
You Died (3)
So, what is true of us in Christ? The first indicative (chronologically) is found at the very beginning of v.3.
3 For you have died…
But what does that mean and how is it the kind of good news that draws our eyes up to Christ?
There are two senses in which it is true. We need to understand both, but it is the second sense that Paul primarily has in mind in v.3.
What are the two senses in which Christians have died? We were dead and then we die.
The heart of the gospel involves life and death. God is life. He created us, making us alive together with Him as His living image-bearers. And from the beginning, God was clear on the fact that as long as His people remained in Him, they would know only life and love and order and fellowship and joy.
However, God was equally clear from the beginning on that fact that sin is death. Should His people turn from Him in sin, they would surely die—spiritually (immediately) and (eventually) physically as well.
Tragically, just three chapters into the humanity’s story, our first parents, Adam and Eve, turned from God to sin and therein brought inescapable and unimaginable death to themselves and all their offspring.
The first sense in which it’s true that we have died, then, is in the fact that we were born physically alive but spiritually dead (separated from God and under His wrath) on account of Adam’s sins. All people, conceived by men, are born into this same death.
That’s what he means in 2:13 when he declares that the Colossian Christians “were dead in [their] trespasses.”
That, of course, is not good news. But what about the second kind of death?
We were dead (in the sense we just considered) and then (curiously) we died. What does that mean? How can we die again?
As I said earlier, we are all born physically alive, but spiritually dead. And yet, the full wages of our sin is the combination of the two. In other words, as tragic as it is that we are born spiritually dead and enemies of God, there’s worse news still. Once our spiritual death is united with physical death, we will know the full measure of God’s justice for our sin. We must die again because our sin and God’s holiness and justice require it. It can’t not happen. We must die twice.
There are only two ways for that to happen. Either the just course of events will continue on and we’ll die again, such that our physical death will come together with our spiritual death unto eternal death (hell) or we will be united with Jesus in His death, such that His death becomes ours.
That’s what Paul means in 1:21-22 when he wrote, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds [first death], 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death [second death on our behalf]…”
Paul’s point (in declaring that the Colossians “have died”) is that they had chosen the second kind of second death; the kind which receives Christ’s death as their own.
Grace, the good news of the gospel is that we need not die the second death of hell. By grace, through faith in Jesus, Jesus died the second death on our behalf, in our place. God put on Jesus the second death we all deserve as a substitute for all who will receive Him in faith! He is both just and justifier (Romans 3:26)!!!
O, what awesome news that is. Do not be OK with being casual about this…either for yourself or for those who have not yet received this news in faith. There is no greater terror in all reality than experiencing the second death apart from Christ, even as there is no greater joy than knowing that He took it for you.
And that objective reality must dominate everything about our hearts, minds, and lives. We’ll come back to that soon.
You Rose (1)
The second objective reality is actually the first named by Paul in this passage. It is good news that Jesus took our second death upon Himself, but it is better news that we are also united with Him in His resurrection.
1 If then you have been raised with Christ…
Quickly, and to be clear, while this sounds like Paul might have been questioning whether or not the Colossians had been raised with Christ (“If then you have been raised”), that’s not the case. He wasn’t suggesting that their resurrection was undetermined. The following paraphrase probably captures Paul’s actual meaning more clearly, “Since you have been raised with Christ…”.
The question, then, wasn’t whether or not they had been raised, it was about what that meant and what they were to do about it.
In this, we see even more clearly that God is not only holy and just, but also gracious and merciful. It is remarkable indeed that in the same chapter in which we read of mankind’s fall into sin and death (Genesis 3), we read of God’s promise to provide salvation through one of Eve’s offspring (Genesis 3:15). And God always keeps His promises.
God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son… (John 3:16).
… while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6).
God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ… (Ephesians 2:4-5).
… you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead (2:12).
The moment we place our faith in Jesus, we are united to Jesus’ death and to His resurrection. They become ours. God counts them to us. Grace, to be a Christian is to have been saved by this amazing, raising grace of God in Jesus.
What does it mean to share in Christ’s resurrection? Ultimately it means, as we will soon see, that we too will rise from the dead at His return. But Paul doesn’t say here “you will rise.” He says “you have been raised.” What does that mean? To ask the same question from another angle, what does Paul mean in v.4 when He says “Christ…is your life”?
It means that He made us spiritually alive (which is why we can see the gospel for what it is and receive it in faith). And in that, He made it so that our physical and spiritual death will never/can never meet! That’s a whole lot of glory and a whole sermon. Praise God, Grace.
Having been raised with Christ and having Christ as your life also means recognizing that He is the purpose and significance of your life. He is the greatest treasure and highest reward. That is what led Paul to emphatically declare, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). That too is a whole lot of glory and a whole sermon.
You have been raised. Christ is your life. And that objective reality must dominate everything about our hearts, minds, and lives. We’ll come back to that soon.
You Were Hidden with Christ in God (3)
Christian, know what God has done for you in Christ, that you might live consistently with that which is true. By God’s grace, through faith, you are united with Jesus’ death and resurrection and, third, hidden with Christ in God.
3 …your life is hidden with Christ in God.
I think there are two senses in which this is true. The most immediate and evident is captured in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.”
The idea is simply this: All of these remarkable aspects of our union with Christ are invisible.
The life of faith, to which we are all called, is a life built mainly on things unseen. We cannot see Jesus. We cannot see our second death in Jesus. We cannot see the resurrection we share with Jesus. All of those things are hidden from us. But they are hidden with Christ in God.
A life of faith is not naïve hope in the unlikely (wishful thinking). It is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It is rock-solid trust in the invisible, but certain work and promises of God.
But I think Paul probably has a second idea in mind as well. It is captured in passages like Psalm 27:5. As his enemies pursued him, meaning to do him great harm, King David reminded himself of the truth that “[God] will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.”
I think Peter had basically the same idea in mind when he described the inheritance of the saints, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5).
There is no safer place for your life and mine to be hidden. It is kept in the Lord God Almighty Bank and Trust. No one is able to bypass His security. That is, no one can take from us the life that was given to us through faith in Jesus.
As the Colossians were surrounded by hardship from within and without, what a comforting reminder it would have been that their union with Christ not only leads to God’s salvation, but also His protection. What a comforting reminder it would have been to hear that their life was under God’s protection
Christian, know what God has done. Turn to Him in your trials, right now. Like David in Psalm 7, declare, “O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge.” In you do I hide myself for in you am I already hidden.
Christian, Know What God Will Do (4)
There’s one more aspect of God’s certain work highlighted by Paul in this passage. The first three happen to us immediately when we first trust in Jesus. They are already done. The final work of God mentioned by Paul is ours in the future. It is no less certain, however. For God (alone), future promise as certain as present realities. Therefore, when we read of God’s promise of what’s yet to come, they are as certain as the things that have already come to pass.
What, then, is the future promise made by God and reported by Paul for all Christians?
4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
What was invisible, will become visible. What we received by faith, we will receive by sight. This great promise is all over in the NT.
Titus 2:13 …waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…
1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Philippians 3:20-21 …our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body…
Ephesians 2:4-7 ButGod, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
On the day of Jesus’ return, we will be glorified with Jesus. Our bodies will rise from the dead, fully sanctified, and be reunited with our fully sanctified souls that we might live forever, fully satisfied in the Righteous One who purchased for us a righteousness of our own.
By grace, through faith in Jesus, you died to your sins, your soul has been raised with Christ, your life is hidden in Christ, and you will appear with Jesus, resurrected in glory.
These things are true of every Christian. They are all entirely true of every Christian. They are all always true of every Christian. They can’t not be all true, for all Christians, always.
There is no question about any of that, according to the finished work of Christ in His death and resurrection.
What there is a question about, though, is whether or not the Colossian Christians, or the Grace Wyoming Christians will live in light of all of that, or if we’ll return to the elementary principles of the world; to the things that are on the earth. That’s where we now turn, to the question of how we will respond—or, rather, how we should respond—to these things that are ours in Christ.
Christian, Lift Your Eyes (1, 2)
Again, then, what are we to do in light of all that? Christian, know what God has done and will do, and then lift your eyes. Turn your gaze off of the things of earth and onto Christ who is by far greater. For only then can you see Christ or the things of earth properly.
If you truly believe the indicatives of Colossians 3:1-4, then the imperatives will not be hard. God-honoring obedience always begins with and is fueled by loving what is true.
But what does that mean? In our passage, Paul describes two aspects of having our eyes lifted to Christ: (1) Seeking the things that are above and (2) Setting our minds on things that are above.
Seek the Things that Are Above (1)
I wonder, what do you imagine an objective, outside observer of your life would say you are seeking the most? What is it that you are going after more than anything else? And why that thing?
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above…
It is an inescapable aspect of human nature that we seek what we love.
To have died and been raised with Jesus, to be hidden in Jesus, and to trust that we will be glorified with Jesus, means understanding that He graciously set His love upon us. Understanding that He graciously set His love upon is to set our love upon Jesus above all. To love Jesus above all is to seek Him above all. And to seek Him above all is to seek “the things that are above, where Christ is.”
To seek the things above, where Christ is, as Paul means it, means desiring Jesus and the things Jesus desires, in the way He means us to desire them.
It means seeing Jesus in His glory in such a way that all of the good things of earth stop competing with Jesus for supremacy and start highlighting it. They stop seeming like alternatives to Jesus and start revealing His uniqueness to satisfy. They stop distracting us from Jesus and start pointing us to Him.
To have our appetites (our desires) trained upon Jesus isn’t, as so many have mistakenly believed, to choose the lesser, but righter path. It is to choose that which is beautiful, good, and true above all else. It is to choose treasure over trash. It is to choose the greatest over the least.
Embedded in the same sentence as the command (“seek the things that are above”), are two aspects of Jesus’ nature that compel us to treasure Him above all. Consider v.1 once again.
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.
What are the aspects of Jesus’ nature that testify to Him being the greatest treasure and worthy of being sought above all?
- Where Christ is. Grace, Jesus is alive. He is risen from the dead. Paul does not command his readers to seek the things that are where Christ “was”. He tells us to see them from where He “is”! Our savior died for us, but He also lives for us. It is no small thing to say that Jesus is above. Jesus is fully alive. He is life!
- Seated at the right hand of God. The second aspect of Jesus’ glorious nature embedded in this passage is the fact that Jesus is seated at God’s right hand. This means that He is honored above and victorious over all.
Do you remember Peter’s Pentecost sermon in Acts 2? Near the climax of this most remarkable message, Peter declared of Jesus that “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God.”
This idea is everywhere in the Bible. To sit at someone’s right hand is to be seated in the place of highest honor. Being seated at the Father’s right hand is to be honored over all and so we should seek Him above all.
Likewise, do you remember Psalm 110? Jesus quoted and claimed it in (among other places) Matthew 22.
The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
That Jesus is sitting at God’s right hand is in response to Him having “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them…”. He is victorious over all and so we should seek Him above all.
How can we do that if we spend hour after hour after hour scrolling social media or binging shows or streaming soul-numbing music or listening to the thoughts and advice of godless friends or engaged in worldly entertainment or chasing riches (the things of the earth, the things the Preacher sought in futility)? Those things take our eyes off of the things above and numb us to them.
Grace, let us instead seek the things of God in Christ, which are by far better. Let us meditate on God’s Word and commend it to one another. Let us ask God in prayer to refine our appetites. Let us sing songs together with the saints that tell of the wonders of Christ. Let us eat and drink the Lord’s Supper. Let us seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God for He is alive and seated in the place of honor and victory.
Set Your Minds on Things that Are Above (2)
The second and final imperative is found in v.2. It is a specific aspect of the last one. We cannot seek the things above if we do not set our minds upon them.
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
I’ll say more about this as we make our way through chapter 3. For now, hear this.
Philippians 4:8 whatever is true, whatever is honorable, 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.
Grace, this is like what we saw last week. By grace, through faith, we have been united with Jesus in His death and resurrection, are hidden in Him, and we will be glorified with Him. These things are objectively true of every Christian. At the same time, however, our eyes and appetites need to be retrained to follow, to be lifted up with our lives. Paul implored the Colossians to do just that.
Conclusion
Again, if the Preacher of Ecclesiastes had the full revelation of God, Colossians 3:1-2 would have been his grand conclusion. He saw the vanity of seeking things below. He just didn’t quite understand what it meant to seek the things above.
(By grace, through faith in Jesus,) you died to your sins, your soul has been raised with Christ, your life is hidden in Christ, and you will appear with Jesus in glory, therefore, let your eyes (your appetites and thoughts) follow. Look up, Christian! Because of what God has done and certainly will do for you in Jesus, lift your eyes above the temporary buzz of earthly joy and the light momentary affliction of your troubles and trials. Look up to the One who is risen and who gives resurrection; who is glorious and makes glorious. And then live entirely in light of what you see.
Lift your eyes, Grace. It doesn’t change the reality of the mess that is on earth, but it does change our perspective on it and empower us to persevere through it in faithful joy.