CAPTURED BY HIS GLORY

Colossians 3: 1-4

INTRODUCTION

Konrad Zuse is arguably the most important person to have lived in the last 100 years. How many of you know who Konrad Zuse is? He invented the first computer, called Z2, in 1940. How many of you own a computer? How many of you use computers in your job? Computers are everywhere in our lives, aren’t they? It is no exaggeration to say that all of us depend upon computers. Computers run our cars. Our houses are warmed and cooled through computers. Banks keep track of our money using computers. There is not a person in our culture whose life is not directly impacted by computers. Yet, few of us even know who invented computers. Literally billions of people enjoy the benefits that computers bring to our lives and yet live in ignorance of the first person to create a computer. The day Mr. Zuse made Z2 has been forgotten in the pages of history, even while the whole world is enjoying the benefits of what he did on that day.

It is much the same with Jesus Christ. He is the most important person to ever live. What he did almost 2000 years ago, dying on a Roman cross and rising from the dead three days later is without question the most important thing that ever happened in the history of the universe, including the creation of it. Yet, billions of people live ignorant of this great Christ and his universe altering work. The only reason this universe still exists and has not been burned up in the fire of God’s wrath is because of Jesus and his death and resurrection. However, there is a major difference between Konrad Zuse and Jesus Christ. You can enjoy the benefits of computers without knowing about or paying any attention to Mr. Zuse. However, although it appears as though people can live a fine life without paying any attention to Jesus, it is merely a delusion. You cannot live as God made you to live, as a fully human being, without having Jesus Christ at the center of your attention and affections. There is a day coming when the delusion that many billions of people live under, that life can be had without any reference to Jesus, will be torn asunder.

One of the primary aims of the Bible is to destroy this deadly delusion, that life can be had without Jesus Christ. The letter to the Christians living in the town of Colassae is a perfect example of this aim. Teachers who claimed that it was possible to have life now and forever apart from Jesus were overrunning the church in Colassae. They were teaching that it was possible through human effort to “connect” to the divine being, to live a truly human life without Jesus Christ. So Paul writes this letter to shatter this dangerous delusion. The supremacy of Jesus Christ is the theme of this little letter. Read with me 1: 15-20 and 2: 6-10. After establishing that Jesus is the most important person in the universe and his dying and rising from the dead the most significant events in the history of the universe he explains the difference that these facts should make in the life of every individual in the world. In chapter 3: 1-4 he explains the only reasonable response to Jesus Christ. What we are going to do now is to look at how we are to live in relation to Jesus and then why we should live this way. Paul commands a radical reorientation of our lives but he also gives the motives for doing so. Most of what I say this morning will have direct application to Christians only. However, that does not mean I am not talking to you if you are not yet a Christian. You should look at what I say about what it means to be a Christian and then use it to develop a desire to be a Christian.

How should we live?

When I left home after high school and went away to college, one of the things I left behind was church. Christianity to me meant doing things I didn’t want to do, like get up early on Sundays to go to church and not doing things I wanted to do, like get drunk. I could not see any reason why I would want to be a Christian when all it meant was living in ways in which I had no interest. What Paul shows in three commands in vv. 1-2 is that being a Christian is not simply about a way of life but about getting a new heart, having new desires. Don’t get me wrong, there is a Christian way of life. There are behaviors that Christians engage in and behaviors that Christians avoid, but the center of Christianity is Jesus Christ and the individual’s relationship to him.

Look at the three commands that Paul makes here. In verse one he says, “seek the things above” (this is what it literally says. The NIV has “set your hearts on things above”.). In verse two he says, “Set your thoughts on things above and do not set your thoughts on things on the earth.” This is Paul’s summary of what it means to be a human being. The only people who are living in the way that God created us to live are those who are seeking things above, setting their minds on things above and not setting their minds on the things on earth. If we’re going to understand what it is that we are being told to do we need to understand what it means to seek something and how what you seek relates to what you think about. In addition we have to understand what are the things above that we are to seek and what are the things on earth that we are not to seek.

Think with me for a minute about what it means to seek something. I want to describe to you how I sought to win my wife Jane’s affections. We met the week before my senior year and her junior year of college. We were both Resident Assistants and had to attend a week of training at a camp before the year began. I noticed this striking young woman and proceeded to try to attract her attention. She seemed open to my interest and when we got back to campus I called her up to ask if she wanted to go on a bike ride. She agreed and we had a nice time but at the end of the ride, when I suggested we do something else she told me she had a boyfriend and it wouldn’t be right for her to see me again. I did get her to agree to have her floor do something with my floor at the beginning of second semester. As soon as we got back to school after Christmas break I called her up and arranged for her floor and mine to go cross country skiing on a Saturday morning in January. We ended up having very little participation; only about eight of the 50 students on our two floors came out. That only meant that we got to spend quite a bit of time talking. I was again taken with her but I didn’t know where she stood with this other guy. I made inquiries as to her class schedule and began to time my going and coming to class to coincide with her going and coming. We coincidently began to see each other quite often during those days. One night as I was walking past her dorm I just decided to drop in and discovered that she was on duty and had to stay in the residence hall that evening. So we spent the evening sitting in her lobby talking. To make a long story short I discovered that her relationship had ended with this other guy and so I began to figure out more ways for us to spend time together. By the middle of that semester my charm had won her over and we began to see each other regularly and the next December we were engaged to be married.

People only seek those persons or objects that they believe will make them happy. Nobody ever seeks what they believe will make them sad. Seeking is always filled with passion; it is never simply a duty. Seeking is always done in faith, trusting that obtaining the object of your desire will be a good thing. Whenever you seek something, it necessarily means that you are not seeking other things. My friends began complaining that they never saw me anymore, as I didn’t seek their company as much because I was seeking Jane’s company. I didn’t seek other girls while I was seeking Jane. Seeking always means giving up other pleasures for the superior pleasure that you are seeking. I ended up being early for class many times and late for class at other times. I spent my money differently. I gave up playing as much basketball in order to pursue her. It is not hard to understand the connection between seeking something and setting your mind on that which you seek. I was preoccupied with thinking about Jane and with thinking about ways to spend more time with Jane. I was not preoccupied with my Chemistry class or how to spend time with other women. Nobody told me I had to do this. I couldn’t help myself. She was the object of my desire and so she occupied my attention. When Paul tells us that we are to seek things above and set our minds on things above, he is merely reflecting what always goes together. If you have set your heart set on obtaining something, you will naturally set your mind on the object of your desire.

What is it that we are to seek, to set our minds upon? Paul says we are to set our minds on things above. What does that mean? In short we are to desire, set our hearts and minds upon heaven and the things that occupy the attention of heaven. You can see that quite clearly in verse one. Heaven is taken up with the glory of God as revealed in the person of the risen and reigning Jesus. Seeking things above is to set your desire upon knowing Jesus Christ and being interested in what interests him. It means I seek to know this word. It means I delight to spend time with him in prayer, listening to his voice in his word and sharing with him as my savior my concerns. It means that I love his church because that is what he loves. It means I love to live like him in my personal conduct. It means I love to care for the poor and needy and broken, just like he did. It means I am delighted to display the greatness of his God and Father for this was his chief ambition. I do these not because I have to but because I want to. I view obtaining Christ as a superior pleasure to all other pleasures.

What does it mean to not set my mind on the things of the earth? Paul is not talking about creation itself. He isn’t saying we are all to be monks and spend our days thinking only “spiritual” thoughts and doing “spiritual” things. The language he is using here is very similar to what he says in Romans 8 where he says that non-believers have their minds set on what their sinful nature desires while Christians have their minds set on what the Holy Spirit desires. Christians do not set their hearts on obtaining the pleasures that sin promises. Christians don’t believe that joy is found in nice houses, good jobs, healthy kids, fun vacations. We don’t pursue the pleasures of creation as though obtaining these pleasures is what will really give us life. We don’t pursue the pleasures of sin either. We live in the world and enjoy the accommodations but we know that this is not our home. We are on a journey and know that God has supplied the things of this world for our journey but they are not what we are living for. That is why Christians are generous with their time and resources. Our hearts are not set upon obtaining life here but on using what we have here to make a better life for ourselves in heaven. We are content with what we have and are not preoccupied with getting more here.

Why should we live this way?

Paul gives six reasons why seeking things above, setting our minds on things above and not setting our minds on things on the earth is the best way to live as a human being.

1. You have been raised with Christ

You should seek things above, set your minds on things above, not on the things on the earth because you have been raised with Christ. The first thing to notice is the tense of the verb that Paul uses here. I know few of us enjoy grammar but this is one of those places where thinking about grammar is a real help. “Have been raised” is a perfect, passive verb. The perfect tense means that there was a time when you were separate from Christ. But then, in a moment, you were raised with him and you continue in the condition of being raised with him. The passive part of the verb means that you did not raise yourself with Christ. Rather you are in the condition of being raised with Christ because of what God has done to you with Christ. Every Christian is in the condition, right now and until the day they die of being raised with Christ. Just a note here: the tense of the verb shows that seeking is not what you do to become a Christian. Seeking is what you do when you are a Christian. You seek things above because you have already been raised with Christ. You don’t seek things above in order to get raised with Christ.

However, what does this really mean that every Christian has been raised with Christ? I am still living on earth. I still get sick. Accidents still happen to me. I still sin. I quite clearly am not living in heaven where the resurrected Jesus is now dwelling. So, in what sense have I been raised with Christ and what possible difference can it make? This is a vast subject. Entire chapters in the Bible are devoted to teasing out the implications of this fact: every true Christian is currently in the state of having been raised from the dead with Christ. I am just going to explain two things about this. First, the Christian is united to Christ by the work of the Spirit through their faith in Christ. This means that everything that was true and is true and will be true of Jesus in his humanity is true or will become true for every Christian. All the benefits of salvation come to the Christian because he is united to Christ. We died with Christ, we were made alive with Christ, we are seated in the heavenly realms with Christ, we will reign with Christ, and we will be glorified with Christ. Every good thing that comes to the Christian comes to us, not because of who we are but because of who Jesus is and because we are united to him.

It is like the Moose club here in Janesville. It has a reputation for having one of the best Friday night fish fries in Rock County. The trouble is, you cannot go there unless you go with a member of the Moose club. Our realtor, that helped us find our house when we moved to Janesville is a member of the Moose club and took us there. Without him, we could not have gotten in the door but because we were with him, we were warmly welcomed and enjoyed an excellent fish fry. My wife Jane belongs to “Club Scrap” which is a distributor of specialty papers for those who do scrap booking. You cannot go into their warehouse or buy any of their papers unless you are a member. Their warehouse is in Appleton, WI and last fall Jane went there and took along her two sisters and a niece. The folks who run Club Scrap treated her sisters and niece well because they were with Jane, a member of the club. Without her, they could not have gotten in the door but because they were with her, they were treated as though they were members and accorded the privileges that come from membership. The union of Christ with his people is far more profound than these illustrations but the effect is the same. Wherever Christ has gone, whatever he has done, whatever is going to happen to him is true or will be true of us because we are united to him by the Spirit, through faith. We are with Christ and so we are treated well because of Christ.

The second thing to say about our being raised with Christ is to consider what it means that Jesus himself is raised from the dead. How did the resurrection of Jesus happen? What actually transpired? He suffered and he died as a man. His physical body died and his spiritual, immaterial self was separated from his body, just like will happen to us at our death. His resurrection occurred by God giving to his physical body immortal life and by God reuniting his spirit, his immaterial self with his body. The language the NT uses is varied but the basic idea is that God raised Jesus from the dead by the Spirit, thus giving Jesus in his humanity, eternal life. In the same way, all who are united to Christ have been given divine, eternal life by the Spirit. We right now actually possess the seed of divine life in us that enables us to live a new kind of life here and that connects organically to the resurrected Christ in heaven. We share, right now the life that is the resurrected life of Jesus. We do not have it in its fullness but only as a down payment, a portion of the fullness of that life that will be ours when Jesus comes again. When you become a Christian you become a new person, not because of what you do but because of what has been done to you in and with Christ. Divine life, eternal life is planted in you and you will never be the same. However, it is only the seed of eternal life, not the full flower. That will only come at the resurrection from the dead when Christ returns.

Therefore, we should seek things above and be preoccupied with them and not with earth because we are now sharing in the resurrected life of Jesus. But also we will seek things above because…

2. Christ is the greatest of all beings

Jesus was not merely raised from the dead to go live in heaven along with the angels but he was raised from the dead and given the preeminent place in heaven. He has been seated at God’s right hand far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. He is far above every title that can be given in heaven and on earth. God has placed all things under his feet and has appointed him head over everything for the sake of his church. He is the one who is going to make all of God’s promises to bring justice to the earth come true. He is the one who is going to make all of God’s promises of salvation for his people come true.

The person to whom you are united, whom you follow is the greatest of all beings in the universe. He is over all things and for him all things exist. All things are held together by the word of his power. The union between Christ and his people is like the union between George Bush, our President, and his family and top advisors. George Bushes daughters can visit the White House whenever they want and they are treated with great respect and afforded the greatest of protection. However, they do not get to sit in on Cabinet Meetings. They are not made privy to the inner workings of the President’s Administration. They are still outsiders in this respect. Colin Powell, the Secretary of State has more access to the President than do his daughters in many ways. Our union with Christ is the union of family intimacy and the union of trusted friends and advisors. Our union with Christ is what would be true if the President’s daughters were also members of his cabinet. How interested are George Bush’s family and his Cabinet members in George Bush’s opinions and decisions? How interested are they in his success, his honor? His family and his Cabinet have their heart set on his agenda, his glory, his success. They are preoccupied with what he thinks and what he wants done.

We would be shocked to discover that Colin Powell is indifferent to what President Bush wants. We know that the job of a Cabinet member is to be concerned with, to be preoccupied with the President’s wishes and his success. Their hearts are set upon the agenda of the President. We would be offended to discover that the President’s family is apathetic to the dignity of his office and uncaring about his reputation. Because of the grandeur of his position, it is right that his family and advisors to be taken up with his desires and reputation. This is the same for us. We are united by faith to the resurrected Christ who is right now running the universe. He is preparing to invade our world, to finally overthrow all of God’s enemies, and to install God’s kingdom on earth. He is the most important person in the universe and we are more closely united to him than any family member or Cabinet member is to President Bush. How can we not be taken up with him and his agenda for the world?

3. You died to life on earth

In Romans 6: 6-7 Paul says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Just a few verses earlier in Colossians he said, “…you died with Christ to the elementary principles of this world…” The Christian is united to Christ in his death to sin and the pleasures of this world. We have as much interest in pursuing the pleasures of sin and of finding life in this world as a dead person because we are united to Christ in his death. This does not mean that we do not sin, it means that we do not want to sin. The Christians entire relationship to sin is radically altered by virtue of our death with Christ. While we may be trapped by sin and by the world, yet we do not live as if sin and the pleasures of the world are where our life is found. Our attention is fixed on heaven because we died to life on earth. Again, consider the relationship between a Cabinet member and the President. How strange it would be if Vice President Cheney, after being sworn into office, spent all his time running the company he was CEO of prior to becoming VP. When he becomes VP he dies to his position as the CEO of Haliburton, the energy company he ran before he was the VP.

4. Your life is now hidden with Christ in God

Here is the security of the Christian. Our true lives are locked up in the secure vault of God himself. Due to our union with Christ who is God and who dwells with God, our true life is surrounded and defended by God himself. This is why we say with the psalmist, “My soul finds rest in God alone, my salvation comes from him. He is my mighty rock, my refuge. He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” God is as committed to protecting our lives as he is to protecting the life of his very own Son because we are united to him. But please note, God’s commitment to protect the life of his son did not prevent God from handing his son over to the devil and wicked men to be killed. The only life that really matters, your eternal life is hidden with Christ in God. Therefore, even if you lose your life here, you have not lost your life. This is why Jesus can tell his disciples that some of them will be killed but not a hair from their head will perish. If your life is hidden with Christ in God, then how can you not set your heart on that life and fill your minds with thoughts of it.

I want you to know that it is this verse that has been the source of all of my strength since Jared’s accident last year. His life, the only life that matters is hidden with Christ in God and cannot be taken from him. He is safe. He is secure. He cannot be harmed.

5. Christ is your life

Isn’t this the summation of the Christian life? Christ is our life. Everything that we hope for, everything we are promised is summed up in this brief statement: Christ is our life. He is the source of our life and he is the focus of our life. We cannot live without him. We all have said and have heard others say to us things like this: “Hunting is my life.” “My children are my life.” “My job is my life.” “I couldn’t live without watching the Green Bay Packers.” When people tell us these things we know that this means their greatest joy comes from that thing or person which is their life. They fear losing that thing or person more than anything. Their hopes for happiness are attached to those things that are their life. They spend large quantities of time and money and a great deal of mental energy devoted to that, which is their life. So it is with the Christian. Jesus Christ is our life and so we devote ourselves to enjoying, learning about, being in the presence of, Jesus Christ.

6. Christ is coming in glory and you will share in that glory

Notice the sequence in vv. 3-4. “You died”, is in the past. “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God” and “Christ is your life” are both present realities. But then, verse four talks about what is in the future. “When Christ appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Right now your true, eternal life is hidden with Christ in God. It is not visible on planet earth. In many ways it is not even visible to you. We are beset with sin and the misery of sin. While the seed of divine life is in us because we are united to Christ and while we are not preoccupied with sin and the pleasures of this world, yet we still must fight against the pressures of sin, the devil and the world. No one can tell by looking at us that one day we will be judging angels. One day we will be royal sons and daughters with authority in God’s eternal kingdom. There is a day coming, when Jesus Christ will be revealed in all the power and glory of his divine humanity. He will come in power to destroy God’s enemies and to save all his people. He will fulfill completely every promise God ever made to his people. All evil and everyone who does evil will be destroyed forever and there will be no more sin, suffering, or death but we will live with the great Triune God in perfect fellowship forever. We will be given immortal bodies, just like his. We will experience the fullness of the divine image and fully represent the invisible God in our whole lives.

Imagine that you are one of those poor orphans in Romania right after the communist government fell. You live in the most squalid conditions in an orphanage. You only eat one meal each day. Your caretakers are mean, bitter and cruel people. The older kids bully you. You live in unrelenting misery. Then word comes to you that a successful American executive named Bill Gates has adopted you. You are given a certificate of adoption with your name and Mr. Gates’ name on it and a picture of Mr. Gates and his wife. You are given new clothes, a new toothbrush and new bedding. You are given tokens of what is to come but you still live in the orphanage waiting for the day when Mr. Gates will come to get you. Your conditions have barely changed but you know that there is a day coming when you will be taken from the orphanage to live with Mr. Gates. You have been told how wealthy and powerful your new father is and so you spend your days thinking about what it will be like to be his son. Finally, that day arrives and Bill Gates shows up at the orphanage in a limousine. He is accompanied by his aides and surrounded by bodyguards. He picks you up in his arms, hugs you, and carries you out of the orphanage and into your new life. You are the son of the wealthiest man in the world and live in the enjoyment of all that means. Bill Gates was appeared in your orphanage in glory and now you share in that glory.

What are you looking forward to? Are you looking forward to retirement? Are you looking forward to getting married? Are you looking forward to graduating? Are you looking forward to getting your driver’s license? What Christians are consumed with is the greatest thing that will ever happen in the universe, the return of Jesus Christ in glory when we will be given glorified resurrection bodies and join him in the glories of heaven. It is the thought of Christ’s return and our appearing with him as his royal brothers and sisters that fills our minds with joy and hope. We are glad for the tokens of his love here but we rejoice in the certainty that the tokens point ahead to the full experience of living with the resurrected and glorified Christ forever. Our hearts and minds are set on that glorious Savior and the glories that are coming when he appears in glory.

We should set our hearts on things above, set our minds on things above, not on the things that are on earth because: