And we now return to Colossians chapter 3. The focus of our meditation will be in the first four verses, but the text I principally wish to highlight is verse 2. So that's our text, chapter 3 and verse 2 of Colossians, where we read Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. And the title for our meditation is Seeking Heavenly Things. As you get on in the ministry, you have certain things that you say and people can identify. Well, I've said it on many occasions. We live in this world. We have our feet firmly on the ground in this world. We are realists. And we can't deny it as much as we might like to, but we're at the beginning, if you like, of the festive season. This is not going to be a sermon on that, I can assure you. But the point I wish to highlight just at the beginning in my introduction is, regardless of what you think about the festive season and all that is contained within it, Christians can in some sense be affected by it, and not necessarily positively. Our minds can be taken up with secondary matters, and we can have our minds taken off what we should always be thinking upon, and that's ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we can get caught up in these things. Especially, maybe so, those who are out in the community more than others. I'm thinking of people who work and rub shoulders with unbelievers. A very necessary thing to do. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but Nevertheless, that has an impact and it has an influence upon the Christian, and in some sense they can be carried along. Not dangerously, of course, I'm not saying that for one minute, but what I hope I am clearly saying is we can be easily affected by the tide and by the moving of society. Well, our text would tell us, friends, set your affection on things above, not on the things of the earth. And as I said, I want to highlight the first four verses of this chapter because I would put it to you, these other verses that surround our text give us ammunition whereby we are to set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Very briefly, we have looked at Colossians. I can't remember when, but we have looked at this book. I do not hope to repeat what I've said when we went through it, but even if that were the case, it would not be the end of the world. was facing the early stages of a heresy, or maybe one or two heresies. Maybe they were somewhat combined. But they were certainly facing Gnosticism, and it possibly affected this congregation first and foremost. What's Gnosticism, you might say? Well, the word comes from the Greek word meaning to know. and those people who were espousing this heresy were people who were trying to tell ordinary private Christians, if I may call them that, that somehow their profession and their experience was somewhat deficient. They didn't have the special knowledge that they had, and they tended to look down upon these other individuals. And of course, the Apostle Paul, in the first two chapters, is highlighting this, and he is reminding them that the individual private Christian who is truly united to Christ by faith is complete in Christ. He is complete, and he doesn't lack anything in actual fact for the private Christian What he needs to do is to realize what he has and what he is in the Lord Jesus Christ. But those who were espousing this heresy were trying to tell them, no, no, you need experiences, you need something else. For instance, verse 18 of the previous chapter, Paul tells them, And there we have some kind of indication of these Gnostics. They were saying, well, we've had visions and the angels have spoken to us and such like and you haven't had that and therefore in some sense you're a second class professing Christian. Nonsense, absolute nonsense. And there was another thing that was going on in the congregation, it was the Judaizers and they were at their normal pattern of introducing legalism into the church. Now, we're not certain whether the people who were espousing these errors were actually in the congregation or were they outside the congregation. But nevertheless, it was affecting people in the congregation. And the Apostle Paul obviously seeks to address that issues with them and reminding them of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's always good for us friends to be reminded principally of Christ and of his person and of his work. And the more that we know of his person and the more we know of his work, the more that we will be delighted in him. Well, this book obviously has relevance for us today, because there in some Christian circles, there will be people who tell us, well, It's not enough just simply to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You must have something else. You must have maybe the baptism of the Holy Spirit as they define it. In other words, you must have some kind of second experience when the Bible does not support that at all. We're either in Christ or we're not. And if we're in Christ, we are complete in Christ. As he says there in verse 10 of chapter two, and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. And therefore, these young private Christians, they are to realize what they have in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in the first couple of chapters, Paul has declared and defended the truth. And now, in chapter three, he's on to outworking what he has said in the previous two chapters. In other words, having declared and defended the truth, he now wants the Christians to demonstrate the faith by the way they live. And this is how we know who the Christians are, because this is one of the other faults of the Gnostics. What were they saying? Well, they were saying that matter is intrinsically evil, and the soul or the body's not. And therefore, this led them to teach that it doesn't matter what you did with your body. You could sin, there's no problem, because it is intrinsically evil, whereas your soul or spirit is different altogether. And that, of course, is not the case. And that's what we find if we go on to, for instance, the first epistle of John. He deals with this heresy as well. And he makes it abundantly clear that it's him who lives righteously. He is the righteous one. And that's another swipe at this doctrine or this heresy of Gnosticism. Well, here in chapter three, he outlines the believer's relationship with Christ. And there's one or two things that I would like to highlight from these verses to remind ourselves of what our relationship is with the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done and achieved for his people. And in these verses here, verses one to four, we have at least five things that remind us of our privileges and our status. in Christ. It's not talking about our feelings, it's talking about our position in Christ, what he has achieved for us by his life and death and resurrection. First thing we would notice, friends, we have died with Christ. That's a strange thing to say, but this is what we find. When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross in Calvary, he was representing his people. And therefore, in a true sense, we are to understand that those in Christ, his believing people, they died with him. They were associated with him. They are identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ not only died for the Christian, a substitute, substitution, but the Christian died with him. That's talking about identification. Christ not only died for sin, bearing its penalty, and we rejoice that he did this, but he died unto sin. breaking its power. Now there's a difference there, and it's a difference we need to appreciate. We may be quite familiar that Christ died and paid the penalty for our sins, and we rejoice in that, because God is a just God, and therefore God cannot punish his people if Christ has paid the price in their room and in their place. But he not only died for sin, but died unto sin. In other words, he broke the power of sin, and this is something that the Christian should know in his life. Oh, we know, Romans will tell us, Romans chapter seven will tell us about this indwelling sin battle that we have, but nevertheless, it is true, the moment that we have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that power that sin once had upon us is now broken, and it's broken forever. Oh yes, we know the war goes on, we know that, we feel it, we experience it, we're not going to deny it, but it does not have the power that it once had over us. The thralldom of sin is broken because Christ died under sin, breaking its power. Well, that all happened when he died, and we were with him, the believers, the Christians, his people, This is to encourage us. This is to help us on our way. Because friends, if you trust to your faith and to your repentance, you will be as much lost as if you trusted to your work or trusted to your sins. What am I saying? You see, the ground of your salvation is not faith. But Christ, it's what Christ has done. It's not repentance, it's Christ. We're not saved by our repentance. We're not saved by our faith. We are saved, the Christian is saved because of what Christ has done. And it cannot be undone. And we are dead, we are dead to the law because of what Jesus Christ did. We are dead with Christ. And this is something that we need to bear in mind and live out it in our lives. We have another thing here also. In verse four, the first part of it, live in Christ. When Christ, who is our life? Now, that's a very interesting thing. Christ is our life. Christ is eternal life. Christ is the one who gives eternal life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. He gives eternal life. Christian, we possess eternal life now. or we haven't experienced the fullness of it, we're not going to deny that. But it is a present day possession of everyone who is truly in Christ. We have eternal life. We wait for the fullness of it, of course, but nevertheless, we live in Christ. 1 John, and there's many other verses we could quote. 1 John 5, verse 12, he that hath the Son hath life, eternal life. And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. There's the great division throughout the whole of mankind. Whoever has a son, whoever has savingly united the son has everlasting life. He shall not be condemned. You possess it, it's yours because Jesus Christ has secured it for you by his life and by his death and by his resurrection. It's very interesting. We are dead and alive at the same time. We are dead to sin and alive in Christ. What else? Well, there's another thing here. We are raised with Christ. We go back there to verse one. What have we got? If ye then be risen with Christ. Now that if, there is not a sense of doubt, It's really since. It could easily be translated since. Since ye then be risen with Christ. Again we are being identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. He rose again by the power of the Holy Spirit. He rose again triumphant over the grave. He broke the fetters of death. What a glorious message we have to proclaim to mankind that is dominated by death. We have a savior who has conquered death, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Well, the resurrection was truly a magnificent event, a powerful event. Well, Christian, do you realize When you experience that regeneration, you experience the power of Christ's resurrection. This is what we're told in Ephesians in chapter 1, verses 19 and 20. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe? according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." Well, what are these two verses telling us? These two verses are telling us that they took the same almighty power to raise a Christian who was dead in trespasses and sins. than it did to raise Christ from the grave. The same Holy Spirit power. And we are raised with Christ. We are seated in the heavenly places, it'll tell us in Ephesians. That's where our citizenship is. Ultimately, we are citizens of the kingdom of God. We're not of this world. And we have been raised with Christ. And where Christ is physically one day, his people will also be with him. with the head. But at the moment, this is our position, risen with Christ. Glorious, wonderful. These spiritual blessings belong to the Christian, even now. Another one, four, hidden in Christ. There we go, verse three again. with Christ in God. The Christian no longer belongs to this world. We are passing through. Here we have no continuing city. We're strangers, pilgrims. The world doesn't know us. The world doesn't know the Savior. Didn't know him, doesn't know him. It's the same with his people. We are hid. from this world because we're in Christ. Now this means security for the believer. It means secrecy because the world doesn't know us. And it ultimately means satisfaction, hidden in Christ. That's your position, Christian. And the fifth one we notice is glorified in Christ. Again, verse four, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Our glory is not here. It's not to be found in this world. Indeed, this world will be far from glorious for us. It wasn't glorious for the Lord Jesus. Christ is glorified in heaven now. He's there, exalted, waiting until that point in time when he will experience his final exaltation, when he returns in power and in glory. But you know, the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans, in that chapter eight, that great chapter, He tells us when he describes the plan or the order of salvation in verse 30 of chapter 8, he speaks about this. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. That's in the present tense. That's not in the future tense. Then he also glorified. In other words, as far as scripture is concerned, the Christian is glorified and will be glorified. Glorified in Christ. And surely then, if we consider these things, friends, Does it not make our pilgrimage, our way through this world that much more encouraging, that much easier to take up the cross and to be identified with Jesus Christ? And surely then, does it not help us therefore to be able to take up this exhortation here then, set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth when we consider these things that we have outlined. You may well ask yourself, indeed you should, what are these things above? What are they? Here it says, set your affections on things above. What are we to set our affection on? What are we to light on? Well, it says here, set your affection Maybe you're instantly thinking about affection as your feelings. It's not talking about your feelings at all. It's not talking about your emotions. It's telling you to set your mind. is to start thinking about these things. And it may well be, of course, as you think upon these things in your mind, that it might warm your heart. We're not going to deny that. But what he's telling us to do is to set our mind to think about these things above. Now, what are these things above? Well, surely we can think about the wonder of having our sins forgiven, of having pardon. What a wonderful thing it is to know that your sins are forgiven and you are fully pardoned and God cannot in any sense condemn you for your sins. Yes, he can chastise you, that's true, but you'll never be condemned because Christ has been condemned in your place. And can you not think about that wonderful peace that you have, that Jesus Christ has secured for all his people? My peace I give unto you, not as the world give I unto you. You know the world, how does it give? It gives in order to get something back. Not so the Lord Jesus. Can we not think about righteousness? If we're growing in grace at all, friends, we should be loving righteousness. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. We have ultimately been saved not to be rich, not to be necessarily happy, but holy. Righteousness. That's what we should be thinking about. And that place where we are, where the Christian is going. And if we're a Christian, that is where we're going. It's to a place where there's nothing but righteousness, nothing but holiness. Should we not be thinking about love? Oh, the world talks about love and sings about it and writes about it. But very often, friends, it's nothing more than sensual lust. But Christian love, love that the Savior has lavished upon his people, divine love, the love of the triune God that is manifested in the great plan of redemption, do you ever think for a moment, do you ever ponder in all your busyness, do you never think, why me? Why have I been singled out? Why has God put his hand upon me? Why did the Holy Spirit convict me of my sin? Why did he make me uncomfortable, when in some sense I was very comfortable, but he made me uncomfortable? to the point when I surrendered, my rebellion was broken, you came to the Savior. Why? Why me? Why you? It's because the love of God, that's a mystery. A mystery, but is that not something that we are to think about? Set your thinking on things above. That's where the love of God is. It came from above. Peter spoke about this. He said, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Think on this. Joy unspeakable. In one real sense, the world is looking for joy. The world is looking for happiness. The world is looking for the things that only the gospel can give and provide. And it's joy unspeakable. That's the portion of the Christian. Should we not be thinking about these things? And should we not be thinking about the fact that in and through the Lord Jesus, we have strength against sin? Sin is an odious thing, terrible thing. And the more we go on, the more we hate it, or we should be hating it. Well, we can rejoice and think about these things that in the gospel, we have strength, not in ourselves, but in what Christ has done for us. We have power against besetting lusts and temptations. Once these things didn't bother us, we just went with the flow. We followed the tide. But now things have changed. There's a battle. Well, we set our mind upon these things. not on things on the earth. What are these things? Well, we're not going to develop this, but these things are what he spoke about or wrote about in chapter 2, about worshiping of angels, other such things, and the Judaizers laying down legalism, touch not, taste not, handle not. These are the things of the world. Well, the Christian, he's got his mind upon spiritual, upon eternal things. And friends, it is a danger for us. In a small congregation and in a small denomination, we might have responsibilities and our minds are taken up with church matters. Now, they're important to a certain extent, but they must not dominate the life and the mind of the Christian. Because ultimately, friends, all our thinking is to lead us to Christ. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, as our minds are to be focused upon him. That's to be where our minds are fixed. And that's where our mind should rest, looking at this glorious person, falling in love with him more and more. And yes, once that happens, friends, when it does, and it has begun when we were converted, let's not doubt it, it has begun, but it can grow. It can be fanned into flames. It can grow. It need not be static. And we need not lose our first love. But the more that we set our affections, our minds on things above, the more it will lead us to value and to honor and to serve Jesus Christ, who sits on the right hand of God. Well, what about us then? What are we thinking on? What occupies our mind? Well, Paul would tell us here, we are to be seeking heavenly things more and more, that we might escape this dreadful world that we live in. Amen.