If we were to take a theme verse from the Book of Colossians and put it across the front up here as something of a banner and saying that this is a verse that epitomizes and a verse that stands for all that the Book of Colossians is about, I have three passages to suggest, and all of them are very similar in their exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ and the highlighting of the sufficiency that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. One of those verses would be Colossians 1 and verse 18, speaking of Jesus. He is also head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first place in everything. And I don't know that we really need to limit that in its application in any way. We cannot over-exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to have first place preeminence in everything. Another contender for theme verse of Colossians might be Colossians 2 and verse 6. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude. And a third would be our text here from Colossians 3 and verses 1 through 4. I'll read them all, but it's really verse 1 that may be our theme verse. Therefore, Colossians 3, beginning at verse 1, Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. And as we take up our meditation here in Colossians chapter three, I want you to notice with me Roman numeral one, the positive central exhortation to heavenly mindedness. Heavenly mindedness. set your mind, think on the things that are there in heaven, those things that are above. And we'll notice, first of all, from verse 1, the foundation, its foundation, this central exhortation, we want to be heavenly minded, Paul says. And the foundation of this is from the first phrase of verse one. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ. Now this could be just as easily translated as since you have been raised up with Christ. But there is an argument to be made for the translation, if you have been, because it puts out before all of us, have you been raised with Christ? It's asking us, are you a true believer? Are you united with the Lord Jesus Christ? And if you are united to Christ, if our hearts respond and say, oh yes, I believe in Him, Oh yes, I have come to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, then we have this disposition, okay, here's the foundation, I have been raised with Christ. But what does it mean? Does it mean that we are to think of ourselves as some sort of physical resurrection has already taken place? Well, no. That's not going to come until the consummation. That's not going to come until the great general judgment when we will receive our eternal bodies. But it's speaking here of a spiritual union with Christ. Another passage that speaks of this spiritual union is Romans 6. I'll begin reading at verse 3. Paul begins this section saying, shall we continue in sin? God forbid. Verse 3. Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in the newness of life. And what Paul is doing here is speaking of a spiritual union with Christ. When someone is baptized, they are lowered underneath the water as if they are being lowered into death or lowered into the grave. And then, a few moments later, they are brought up and allowed to breathe and allowed to walk around on their own. And all of this symbolizing that at the moment that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, We are brought into a special union with the Lord Jesus. It is as if we died with him on the cross. It is as if we were buried with him in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. It is as though we have been raised with the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. We can find this spiritual union spoken of in many places in the New Testament, I was actually thinking, you know, I really need to do a series on union with Christ. I'm going to check how much time is left. There's a lot of material on union with Christ. But here, listen to Philippians 3 in verse 10. Paul says, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. And he's talking about a spiritual union with the Lord Jesus Christ where there is resurrection power that flows to him. But listen to this from Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2 and verse 4, those little words that we love, but God. But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, Even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Again, Paul is not talking about a physical resurrection. but he is going further here in Ephesians chapter two and saying that of this spiritual union, it's not only that we are identified with Jesus in his death, in his burial, and even his resurrection, but we need to be viewing ourselves as seated with Christ there in the heavenly places. And that brings us very close, doesn't it? to this companion epistle, Colossians 3 and verse 1, but since or if you have been raised with Christ, keep your mind, keep thinking about those things above where Christ is. One is written, without denying the reality of a future resurrection with Christ. Paul, following his typical already and not yet paradigm, there are some things that have broken into this realm, but it's not all together yet, glorification has not come yet, asserts that those who belong to Christ have already experienced a spiritual resurrection with Christ. Because they are in Him and Christ has Himself been raised to sit at the right hand of the Father, so believers can be said to have been raised with Him. There's the foundation of this exhortation. Now we come back to the middle part of verse 1 and notice the essence of this central exhortation. Keep seeking the things above. That's what we are commanded to do. That is what we are urged to do. Keep seeking the things that are above. And it's very close to what we have from Jesus, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness And all these things that you're worried about, all these things will be added to you. But there's a difference. In Matthew 6, there is an urging to seek the things of Christ and his kingdom. There is similarly this urging that we seek, but it's not to possess the things that are in heaven, but it is a seeking to orient our minds to be thinking in terms of what is really important is there. That's where Jesus is. That's where my mind needs to go. And then Paul uses a present tense, which urges us not to do this once and say, oh, okay, I already did that. See, I got that punched on my ticket. One time I thought about myself as being in union with Jesus Christ. No, no, no. With the present tense, it is over and over and over again as a characteristic of life. I am to be thinking above. I am to be thinking about the things above where Christ is and above. It's simply another way of referring to heaven, the place where God is. and the sphere to which believers truly belong by virtue of their identification with Christ. I'm going to be here for 20 years. I'm going to be here on earth maybe for 70 years, but I'm going to be in heaven for all eternity. And Paul wants us to recognize that and already get our minds wrapped up with the things that are there in heaven. And I think that it is a fitting passage as we come to the Lord's Supper, that we are to think back and reflect on our Lord's death. And so our passage urges us. we're to realize that we have been united with him spiritually in his death, in his burial, and as well, his resurrection. And as we come to the table of remembrance, we want to reflect back on the Lord's death, but we also want to look ahead for the week ahead, the month ahead, the years ahead, and say, Lord Jesus, This is my path. This is where I am committed to going. And so we have this passage that is urging us as we come and make this practical commitment that we're committing ourselves to be thinking about those things above where Christ is. Thirdly, it's focus. It's focus. And what do we find in the latter part of verse 1? Well, we've got this exhortation, and the essence of it is to keep thinking about the things of Christ. But now the focus is the latter phrase of verse 1, where Christ is. seated at the right hand of God. And it's interesting that we don't have the time this evening to go back into the Colossian era, but it's a mixture of asceticism and of angel worship. and some pagan philosophy all mixed up, and he deals with that in chapter two. But it's interesting that if there is something in the teaching of the false teachers about having the mindset on angelic beings, on those things in heaven, that it's like Paul grabs hold of that, and he basically says in chapter two, you can forget about the angels. But I do want you to be thinking about someone who is there in heaven. I do want you to have a heavenly focus, and so it is that we have in the latter part of verse 1 where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Our spiritual growth is bound up with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, if we expect to be growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, then it is appropriate for us to be looking to the things above where Christ is. There's the positive central exhortation. Now, notice with me from verse 2 and in Roman numeral 2, the repeated, the repeated heightened exhortation to heavenly-mindedness. Here we have a repetition, really, of that which was given to us in verse 1. Here it is in verse 2 as, set your mind on the things that are above. And it was, in verse 1, keep seeking the things that are above. So this repeated positive expression. this positive essence, set your mind on the things above. It's a different word, but it's the same duty. And Paul likes this word. It's used 26 times in the New Testament, and 23 of those uses come from the pen of the apostle Paul. It refers not just to something that is in the mind, but it's setting your mind on something until your will gets involved. And that's important, isn't it? Because sometimes we can think about something and say, yeah, that's really the best thing to do, but I don't really want to do it. And until we get ourselves into that frame of, that's the right thing to do, and I want to do it. I want to do it for the glory of God. I want to do it because it's the best thing for me as well. So it's like Paul is saying, set your mind on the things above. Not just the nice little thinking about it, but get your will in line with King Jesus, who is ruling from heaven. And like the word in verse one, being in the present tense, so is this one. Keep seeking those things that are in heaven, verse one, do it over and over and over again, and never get tired of it throughout all of your life. And here it is again, make it a habit of mind, a habit of the will, keep thinking about those things that are above, things above. Paul is making it clear that the things above are tied to Christ. Now, B, the expanded negative counterpart. Some of us always like it when it's just positive, where there's just the positive emphasis on the Christian life. And isn't it nice? Keep focusing on Jesus Christ. Keep focusing on the things above. But I think Paul is realistic enough to know that we have a sinful bent And so we come along here in the latter part of verse two, you're supposed to keep your mind on things above, verse one, that's where Christ is, but now explicitly, and now the negative, not on the things that are on earth. And there's a great contrast. Paul lays this out in Philippians 3, verse 19. He talks about some who are going to end up in destruction, and they set their minds on earthly things. They just cannot get their horizon lifted up to heaven. They're stuck on the things of this world. They're not even sure if God exists, not even sure if heaven exists. They can't get there with their minds. But Paul goes on in the next verse to say, Well, what are the things of earth? What are the things below? Well, there really are so many things that can keep us from being spiritually minded. Listen to a few of these. From Psalm 49 and verse 11, the psalmist says, their inner thought is that their houses are forever and they're dwelling places to all generations. They have called their lands after their own names. but man in his pomp will not endure. He is like the beasts that perish. Whenever we buy a new appliance in recent years, Nancy says to me, you know, this may be the last dishwasher that we will ever buy. It's a little dismal, isn't it? Maybe the last refrigerator that we will ever purchase. If this one lasts 25 years, well, then it's the last one that we're gonna buy. But you know, it's not dismal at all. It's really very cheery. We are in this world for only so long. And it's representative of a mind that is not calling the lands after their own name, not thinking their house is going to endure forever, or that their dishwasher or refrigerator is going to endure forever. It's recognizing, no, I'm not too long for this world. Or the Lord Jesus in Matthew 6, in the Sermon on the Mount, verse 19, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Set your mind on things above. Or John, verse John 2, 15. Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lust, but the one who does the will of God lives forever. Put your mind on things above. Set your mind and your affections and your heart on those things where Jesus Christ is. Roman numeral three. Now from verse three and verse four. Two encouragements to heavenly mindedness. First of all, A, encouragement from union with Christ in our conversion. Now verse 3, You can see very plainly that Paul is not talking about a literal, physical resurrection in verse 1. He's not talking about a literal, physical death in verse 3, or he wouldn't be talking to them, would he? They would be dead. But what he is saying, you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God, you are dead to the world. And just verses before, Colossians 2 and verse 20, if you have died with Christ, to the elementary principles of the world. Why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees such as, you see, this theme of a spiritual union with the Lord Jesus Christ? You have died with him. And as you have died with him, you've died to this realm of the world. We're right back to it, aren't we? The world is it. That's what the worldling thinks. There's nothing beyond the grave. We got to reach for all that we can reach for here and now. But as believers, we die to that perspective. And we begin thinking of ourselves here. No, that's not all that there is. That's really a very, very small part of eternity. And we're back to Romans 6, you've been baptized with him into his death, you've been baptized into his burial, and you've been raised in his resurrection. And notice with me what Paul does. He makes a sandwich based on our union with Christ. And the first part of the sandwich is there in the first part of verse one, if you have been raised with Christ. He's talking about spiritual union, isn't he? And then he lays on two pieces of meat, two imperatives, two exhortations, where you're to be seeking the things that are above, That's one piece of meat in verse one. And then verse two, the second piece of the sandwich is keep thinking, keep thinking till you get your will wrapped up with Jesus Christ, King Jesus, who is there in heaven. And then do you see what he does in verse three? What's the piece of bread that goes on top? Well, it is, you have died with Christ. Christ. So union with Christ, union with Christ, and the two exhortations that go together on the same sandwich. Setting our hearts and minds on the things above and not on earthly things is both necessary and possible. It is necessary because our union with Christ means we no longer belong to the realm of this earth, but to the heavenly realm. And it is possible because our union with Christ severs us from the tyranny of the powers of this world and provides us with all the power needed to live a new life. But that's not all verse 3 says, is it? It says that we have died with Christ, or that we have died, implying we've died in our spiritual union with Christ, and that we have been hidden with Christ in God. And it seems that what Paul is doing here, he has earlier talked about the mystery of the gospel that was hidden, and now it's been revealed. And he's talking about our relationship with Jesus Christ. You can't look at me, I can't look at you and know assuredly that you're a believer. You can't just walk up to someone at the train station and say, you're a believer, aren't you? I knew it. I can see the halo. No. It's as though our lives are hidden with Christ in God. Here the believer is hidden, but later we're going to be revealed. And do you see how that comes out in verse 4? When Christ is revealed, we will be revealed. So verse 3, we're hidden. It's not plain and obvious right now what our relationship to God is. But one day, it will be very obvious. I think of the man at the plant nursery. I could give you his name, but I won't. Who we've known for a dozen years, had a friendly relationship with him. But it's only been in the 12th year that we made this discovery, and he starts quoting to Nancy and me verses about the glorious return of Jesus Christ. Wow. What he was, in many ways, was hidden. And that's the way it is in this world. But there's coming a time when it's going to be very plain and obvious. Our true status for now is veiled. And we may not look any different from any other individual living in the world, but Paul is letting us know that we need to behave differently. And that's the practical thrust of what starts in verse 5. put to death this kind of way of thinking or acting. But there's something more in this hidden. Psalm 27 in verse 5 is especially clear. It's not only that, in a sense, we're veiled from the world. But there's a sense in which for safekeeping, God has taken us and hidden us from destruction. He's not hidden us from danger. He's not hidden us from calamity. He's not hidden us from deep, deep troubles. But he has hidden us from destruction that speaks of how God is committed to care for his own. But now, if we looked at A, at encouragement from union with Christ in conversion, that spiritual union, come with me now to see in verse four, encouragement from union with Christ in glory. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. And here, the first part speaks of our expectation of Christ's glory. And the first thing I thought of when I read it is one more verse to add to that dominant theme of Christ's glorious return. What we've been seeing over and over and over again, that the return of Christ is central to the life of New Testament believers. It's not if, it's when Christ is revealed. He will be revealed. Further it is, who is our life? Who is our life? Do we think that that's a strange way of thinking of Jesus Christ? He is my life. Listen to this parallel from Galatians 2. I have been crucified with Christ. Anything about spiritual union in Galatians 2.20? And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. First part of verse four, our expectation of Christ's glory. Latter part of verse four. Here's our expectation of our glory. Our lives are inextricably bound up with the Lord Jesus. When He is revealed, we're going to be revealed. We are hidden with Christ in God, but there's coming a time when He's going to be openly known, and when that happens, so will we no longer be veiled, but it will be revealed. We were hidden. then will be revealed. Now listen to how John words it in 1 John 3 in verse 2. See if there's any slight parallel. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. Veiled. We know that when he appears, we will be like him. because we shall see him just as he is. Does not appear, veiled. When Christ is revealed, it will appear that we are like him. Roman number four, practical relevance of heavenly mindedness. Note the centrality of Christ's exaltation for the Christian life. What's the theme of these verses? Keep seeking the things above. Same message of Colossians 1. He himself will come to have first place in everything. You and I cannot make a mistake by trying to lift Jesus too high. We exalt him, we exalt him, we say, oh no, I lifted Jesus too high. He's now too exalted. I've got too noble the thoughts of Jesus. You can't do it. In Matthew 19, Peter said, And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that you have followed me in the regeneration, the consummation. When the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you also will sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms, for my name's sake, will receive many times as much and will inherit eternal life. Christ is now in heaven. He hasn't yet been revealed, as he will be. But our hopes are bound up with the exaltation of Jesus in this life and the exaltation of Jesus in the great day of judgment when he will repay his own for any trouble. We may face pain like Job did, like we heard in Sunday school. There may be a sword of division because of our loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ, but Christ's glorious return will fix everything. His return will fix it all. Secondly, by way of application, note the centrality of holy living in the Christian life. Set your mind on the things above, And then verse 5, consider the members of your body, earthly body, as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, which amounts to idolatry. Verse 8, but now you also put them aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, down to verse 12, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against another. Verse 14, beyond all these things put on love, self-denying agape love, which is the perfect bond of unity. People were trying to kill the Apostle Paul. He had gospel enemies. People tried to make Paul's life miserable if they couldn't kill him. Well, some are preaching in order to vex his spirit that they're preaching for the wrong, but I just rejoice that Christ is preached. But notice here, that we can have this emphasis on, we've been united to Christ, he's there in heaven, but it's not that, okay, he's there in heaven and Christ has given you forgiveness, Christ has given everything for you, and we're not gonna mess things up by ever saying that you as an individual Christian need to do something. No. Paul's just said you need to do a lot of somethings. out of thanksgiving to what Christ has done for us, even to the point of let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. But let me pick that theme up a little more carefully now in C, the practical relevance C. Note the centrality of imperatives in the Christian life. An imperative's a command. Take the garbage out. It's a command. You've got to do it. And some want to so underscore that in the Christian life, it's all about grace, it's all about what God is giving us, and they are allergic to any commands being laid on us. But it was King Jesus who said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Verses later, he is recorded as saying, He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will disclose myself to him. Keep seeking the things above. Set your mind on those things above. Stop sinning. evil desire, impurity, passion, greed. You got to deal with all those things. And as we come to the table of remembrance, it's good for us to remember everything that we have by way of God's forgiveness and God's grace. But it's also good for us to know that the biblical view of the Christian life is one that those who are forgiven are also transformed. And God expects us to say to King Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross. And what can I do to please you? because of what you have already done for me. I want to love you. I want to obey you. I want to get you glory here." Fourthly D, practical relevance. Note the centrality of Christ's return in the Christian life. Here again, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. And you know what? We don't just hear of it in Colossians 3, but if Colossians 3 is leading us over to 1 Corinthians 11 and the Lord's Supper, there in the midst of the Lord's Supper institution, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death, until he comes." Even that text helps us to be seeking the things above, telling us the here and now is only for this limited period of time. We need to think of heaven. We need to think of King Jesus. We need to be setting our minds on those things and realize that is our true realm. That is where our citizenship is. And may God grant grace to us as we take those simple means. that God has condescended to give us, and think of Christ's blood, and think of His broken body, that we will proclaim His death until He comes. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these concepts that you give to us in your Word. The many, many times where we are urged to think of our union with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you have been raised with him, you have died. You have died with Christ to the elementary principles of this world. Thank you, Lord, for we know that we could never work our way to heaven. We need you, O Lord God, to give to us a righteousness that is from God, and it is a righteousness that was earned by our perfect King, our perfect Savior, the Lord Jesus. We thank you for his perfect life. We thank you for his perfect death. And we pray that you would help us to see how much we owe you and how much we owe your glorious son. And give us the desire to be with you. Give us the desire to love you and to show you that love by obeying you and seeking to get you glory here and now. Father, be with us even in the minutes that remain of this service and make our time before you to be meaningful as we pledge ourselves, as we come afresh and own our sin. Use this service for much good. and help us to walk in the ways of your kingdom in the days, the weeks, the months, and years ahead for your great glory. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.