Colossenses 3

Colossenses 3

Meyer writes… IF! SOME one will say, "He, there's the rub! I'm afraid that is not true of me; my life is sinful and sorrowful; there are no Easter chimes in my soul, no glad fellowship with the Risen Lord; no victory over dark and hostile powers." But if you are Christ's disciple, you may affirm that you are risen in Him! With Christ you lay in the grave, and with Christ you have gone forth, according to the thought and purpose of God, if not in your feelings and experience. This is distinctly taught in Eph 2:1-10 and Romans 6:1-10. The whole Church (including all who believe in our Lord Jesus) has passed into the light of the Easter dawn (Ed: raised to walk in a brand new way of life they had heretofore never been able to experience!); and the one thing for you and me, and all of us, is to begin from this moment to act as if it were a conscious experience, and as we dare to do so we shall have the experience. Notice how the Apostle insists on this: "You died, you were raised with Christ, your life is hid with Christ. Give yourself time to think about it and realize it." The Cross of Jesus stands between you and the constant appeal of the world, as when the neighbours of Christian tried to induce him to return to the City of Destruction. This does not mean that we are to be indifferent to all that is fair and lovely in the life which God has given us, but that the Cross is to separate us from all that is selfish, sensual, and savoring of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1John 2:15+, 1Jn 2:16+, 1Jn 2:17+). Set your mind (present imperative) on things above (Col 3:2+). "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." (Pr 23:7KJV) How many of us even try to guard our thoughts. The door of our heart stands wide open to the world, the flesh and the devil, with no control of what comes into our mind. Have we ever considered asking God by His Holy Spirit to help us control our thoughts, so that we might think upon holy things, the things that are true and honorable and of good report, a wonderful change would pass over our life (Php 4:7+, Php 4:8+). Realize that Christ is your life He is in you! See to it that nothing hinders the output of His glorious indwelling. Never mind if the world of men misunderstand you. Some day your motives and reasons Hill be manifested (Col 3:4+). PRAYER - Grant, most gracious God, that we may love and seek Thee always and everywhere, and may at length find Thee and for ever hold Thee fast in the life to come. AMEN. ><>><>><> THE RESURRECTION IN THE NT: A PROOF, A PATTERN, A POWER, A PROMISE, A PLEDGE W. H. Griffith Thomas summarizes Colossians 3:1ff The apostle first calls attention to his readers having been "raised together with Christ" (ASV). The English word "if" is employed here in its sense of "since"--"in view of," and the verb is in the indicative mood, so that Paul is clearly assuming this resurrection as a fact, admissive of no doubt. That is to say, these Christians were raised spiritually when Christ was raised physically; and this identification was the foundation of their spiritual position. The resurrection is variously presented in the New Testament as at once a proof, a pattern, a power, a promise, and a pledge. It is the proof of our acceptance of Christ's death and of our acceptance with Him (Ro 4:24, 25notes): it is to be the pattern of our holy life (Ro 6:4+); it is also the power for Christian character and service (Eph 1:18, 19, 20- see notes Ep 1:18; 19; 20); it contains the promise of our own physical resurrection (1Th 4:14+); and it is the pledge of our life hereafter (Jn 14:19). In the present passage our resurrection is associated with Christ's because we are united with Him in such a way that, whatever He did, we are regarded by God the Father as having done also (Col 2:12+; Ro 6:8+). THE POWER TO DIE DAILY! Death to self occurred in Romans 6 (Ro 6:6+) yet the call is to daily death to self as a lifestyle. Death to self is emphasized by the Lord Jesus often (Mt 16:25; Mk 8:35; Lk 9:24;17:33; Jn 12:25). The same truth is also stressed by Paul (Ro 12:1+, Ro 12:2+; Ga 2:20+; 2Ti 2:11, 12+; Php 2:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12- see notes Php 2:5; 2:6; 2:7; 2:8; 2:9; 10; 11; 2Co 5:14). Dying to self and living unto God is the very essence of a truly blessed and fulfilling life in this world and that to come. Paul is teaching that death with Christ involves also participation in His resurrection life which releases into the believer’s life a power that is more than adequate as a check against the appetites and attitudes of the lower nature (contrast Col 2:23+). C. H. Spurgeon in a sermon on Colossians 3:1 entitled "Following the Risen Christ" emphasizes the critical importance of the resurrection of Christ "THE resurrection of our divine Lord from the dead is the corner-stone of Christian doctrine. Perhaps I might more accurately call it the key-stone of the arch of Christianity, for if that fact could be disproved the whole fabric of the gospel would fall to the ground. If Jesus Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain; ye are yet in your sins. If Christ be not risen, then they which have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, and we ourselves, in missing so glorious a hope as that of resurrection, are of all men the most miserable… Never let us forget that all who are in him rose from the dead in his rising. Next in importance to the fact of the resurrection is the doctrine of the federal headship of Christ, and the unity of all his people with him. It is because we are in Christ that we become partakers of everything that Christ did,-we are circumcised with him, dead with him, buried with him, risen with him, because we cannot be separated from him. We are members of his body, and not a bone of him can be broken. Because that union is most intimate, continuous, and indissoluble, therefore all that concerns him concerns us, and as he rose so all his people have arisen in him… our spiritual resurrection (Col 2:12, 13+, Ro 6:4,5+)… is ours as soon as we are led by faith to believe in Jesus Christ… The resurrection blessing is to be perfected by-and-by at the appearing of our Lord and Savior (1Jn 3:2, 3), for then our bodies shall rise again (1Co 15:50ff Torrey's topic "Resurrection"), if we fall asleep before his coming. He redeemed our manhood in its entirety, spirit, soul, and body, and he will not be content until the resurrection which has passed upon our spirit shall pass upon our body too. These dry bones shall live; together with his dead body they shall rise… The buried seed rises from the ground, but not as a seed, for it puts forth green leaf, and bud, and stem, and gradually develops expanding flower and fruit, and even so we wear a new form, for we are renewed after the image of him that created us in righteousness and holiness." (References added) (References added) (CLICK HERE for complete sermon) KEEP SEEKING THE THINGS ABOVE: ta ano zeteite (2PPAM): John 8:23, Gal 4:26, Php 3:14, Mt 6:20, Ro 12:1,2 Mt 6:33, Mt 7:7 Mt 13:45,Ps 16:11; 17:14,15; 25:14, 73:25,26; Pr 15:24; Lk 12:33; Ro 8:6; 2Co 4:18; Php 3:20,21+ Heb 11:13,14, 15,16 Colossians 3 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Colossians 3:1-4 Living the Risen Life - John MacArthur All your aims must center in heaven, where reigns the Christ who has thus exalted you, enthroned on God’s right hand (Lightfoot) THE THINGS ABOVE Therefore (oun) if (if then - 1st class conditional = since) you have been raised up (play You Raise Me Up) with (aorist - past completed action = when you believed; passive - divine passive; indicative = reality) Christ keep seeking (present imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) the things above (ano) where Christ is (present tense = continually), seated (as Great High Priest) at the right hand of God The things above (507)(ta ano) is an adverb of place and means higher in place, a position above another position, and used figuratively of heaven (Jn 8:23, Gal 4:26, Php 3:14, Col 3:1,2), of the direction upward (Lxx of Ex 20:4, Dt 4:39; when Jesus prayed Jn 11:41ESV, the sky Acts 2:19, figuratively of a root growing He 12:15). Ano is the root of the more "famous" adverb anothen (ano + -then = from) used by Jesus in John 3:3 speaking of men's need to be born "from above". Ano points us upward, to the sphere where Christ’s authority and our true life are (for Christ is our life! Col 3:4+). The believer’s gaze must be fixed heavenward (a gaze energized by the Spirit and the Word and prayer), not entangled with the things of earth. To look above is love’s delight; The world grows dim in heaven’s light. Notice that this phrase is placed first in the Greek sentence for emphasis (and to contrast with the earthly things the false teachers were propagating). In addition Paul repeats this phrase the things above (ta ano) in the next verse (Col 3:2) (See more discussion of things above). Clearly, he wants believers to view all of life from a heavenly perspective rather than earthly perspective. The text is more literally rendered… "the things above, keep on seeking". The direction of our life is now to be heavenward. Paul’s command is not to seek heavenly geography but heavenly character. To fix your thoughts on heaven is to fix your affection on the One who rules there. Yes, we are on earth, but our true citizenship is in Heaven (Php 3:20+). We must not only seek heaven, but think heaven! Not only go towards heaven, but have heaven in us. In giving the cure for anxiety and worry Jesus told His listeners to… seek (same verb as in Col 3:1 - zeteo - also in the present imperative = calls for this to be one's lifestyle) first His kingdom (and by implication the "King"!) and His righteousness (for believers who have His imputed righteousness, this refers to "imparted" righteousness, or right living before God and man), and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33+) Hold tightly to what is eternal, but loosely to what is temporal. And so believers are first and foremost to seek Christ (in His Word) and then to seek to be pleasing to Him in thought, word and deed. As the fire mounts upwards to its proper place, and as the needle still trembles till it stands at the north; so the soul, once inflamed with the heavenly fire, and acquainted with her first original, cannot be at rest until it finds itself in that comfortable way which certainly leads homewards. (T. H. Leary.) A T