“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” Colossians 3:1
In our family there is one particular family video which gets viewed more often than any other. In the video I’m asking the children about their visit to local attraction, Cannon Hall Farm. I ask what animals they met at the farm. And three-year-old Lois replies without a second thought, ‘bears, real bears’.
So, in a gentle and fatherly way (I hope), I suggest that Cannon Hall Farm doesn’t have bears and ask if they possibly saw lambs.
One of the biggest challenges for every Christian is living in a world that is relentlessly promoting its philosophy. It believes the philosophy and it loves the philosophy which is why it promotes it so unceasingly.
The philosophy it is committed to, is the philosophy that the material world is the end in itself.
Nothing beyond it. Nothing above it. Just the material.
It is this philosophy that drives the mindset we encounter every day; the very culture we swim in. Indeed, it shapes what everyone strives for in this life.
Religion fits neatly into this philosophy. It helps to shape the moral dimension of the existence that pursues everything for a material end. Religion encourages us to pursue material ends whilst helping others and whilst caring for the needy.
Lois telling me she had seen real bears at Cannon Hall Farm was a make-belief that, in her infancy, she made out to be a truth. And thereason I could correct her was that I had been to Cannon Hall Farm myself and I knew that the animals there were farm animals, not zoo animals – not bears.
The world’s philosophy doesn’t believe in absolute external truth. It believes in relative internal ideas. That means, it rejects the idea of oneexternal objective reality called God who reveals the truth to the world. Rather, it embraces handed down traditions and ideas shaped by society.
The problem for the Christian is that that philosophy is rampant in the world the Christian lives and works. The Christian is swimming in a sea with strong currents of relativistic thinking.
And to add complexity, the absolute external truth that the Christian embraces is hidden from their view.
Therefore, the constant temptation for every Christian is to get suckedback into the philosophy of this world – to adopt the mindset of this world.
At the outset of chapter 3, the apostle Paul is giving the Colossians a mind-set reset. He sees them getting taken in by the social media feed of their day. He sees them drinking at the fountainhead of the film culture of their day. He catches them feasting on the song lyrics of their day – consuming the philosophy of their day, with the mindset of their day.
What he sees is, Christians not living in accord with what they reallyare. Instead he sees them living in accord with the very thing they say they have died to!
And so, he wants to remind them of the truth. What they are giving themselves to as he writes to them is, in light of what they say they are, fable; folklore; legend – not truth.
So how does he do it?
Well, he starts with a reminder. Verse 1, ‘Since, then, you have been raised with Christ’ is Paul building on what he said Chapter 2:11-12 and 2:20. There he told them plainly that faith in Christ meant their ‘wholeselves’ - not part - all, ruled by the flesh, was buried with Christ and then they were raised in a newness of life. That’s their conversion reality.
Dead to the world’s fleshly folklore, and alive to the truth in Christ Jesus. That’s who they said they had become.
So, Paul is reminding them of the fact. By embracing the fleshly philosophy of their day, they were losing connection with the head – Christ Jesus, and so living as if they hadn’t been united with the objective truth that really exists – namely God above.
So, the next thing Paul does is urge them to seek the things which are above (v.1). The phrase ‘set your’ is more accurately translated here ‘seek’. It’s an active verb – in other words it’s not something passivelyobtained.
Seek out; pursue; strive for; make a disciplined effort to obtain what is above is Paul’s intention in these words.
But what is above?
He tells us. Christ is above. The resurrected Christ is above. Where is above? Hebrews 7:25-26 helps us out: ‘Therefore he [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need-one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens’.
Jesus is above the heavens according to Hebrews. He is in the realms outside the material universe. Real and abiding and defining truth thenexists outside of the material realm. And yet Christ is material, he has a body. That means what is material – perfectly, gloriously material (Christ) – has pierced through the envelope of the material into the realm of the immaterial.
And Paul’s saying, seek him who has done that!
And what is Christ doing there?
Paul tells us. He is sitting down at the right hand of God. What does that convey? Hebrews again helps us: ‘But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made a footstool for his feet’ (Hebrews 10:12-13).
Christ is sat down because his work is complete. He is sitting at the right hand of the Father because he is exalted above the angels to a position equal with God the Father, and he’s awaiting the day when all his enemies will be made his footstool (Hebrews 1:13).
Paul is saying, seek him who has done that!
This is not Paul persuading the Colossians to seek with all their hearts a fable or a tradition. It is him telling them to seek with all their hearts ultimate truth - more real than anything in this world.
Do you know what the most authentic material things are in the world we live in? They are the things God has made. That is why it’s the heavens that are declaring the glory of God. Everything human beings create or produce is derivative and is generated by the philosophy that this material world is the beginning and the end of meaning.
But one single day with Christ will make the whole span of this world look like a flimsy shadow, he will be that concrete – that authentic.
Next Paul says in verse 2, the chief way the heart is moved to pursue the things that are above is by having an attitude of mind (a mindset)geared to things that are above.
If I say I know someone who’s diet is characterised by fast food, I think that that fact informs you about the mindset of that person. It tells you that their mindset is governed by a taste for that kind of food.
Diet is a good indicator of mindset. You can tell a lot about your own spiritual mindset based on your instinctive diet.
Just think of the hours you’ve been given. Every one of them numbered. Every hour that passes, is one hour closer to zero-hour. That makes them all precious, and the question becomes what do you naturally spend most of them on?
I think Paul would say the mindset that is on things above is the one that is characterised by Christ. The diet of a life like that is one that pursues and seeks out the things of Christ who is above.
It is not the one that is characterised by earthly things (v.2).
Be careful here. It is not legalistic to look at the diet of your life and find it characterised by the things of earth and conclude my mindset is wrong. That’s precisely what Paul is encouraging you to do – so that can’t be legalistic. Paul gets really tough on legalism, so we can be sure he’s nottalking about that here.
If we Christians consistently drink at the fountainhead of the culture of this world, our whole mindset will be based on a deadly fable. But if we drink deeply at the fountainhead that is Christ then our whole mindset will be based on rock solid, unshakable, objective truth.
At the end of verse 2 it’s as if Paul anticipates an objection. Something along the lines of ‘what’s the matter with it anyway’ or ‘give me one good reason to reject the world, Paul’.
Such objections do arise in our minds and hearts. The main reason they arise is because it’s really hard to live in the world and not be of it.
John Earnest Bode wrote down his own appreciation of this challenging reality in his famous hymn ‘O Jesus I have promised’. Here’s how he put it in verse 2:
‘O let me feel thee near me! / The world is ever near: / I see the sights that dazzle / The temping sounds I hear / My foes are ever near me / Around me and within / But Jesus draw thou nearer / And shield my soul from sin’.
‘Give me a good reason Paul to reset my mindset’. Verse 3 is his answer and it goes like this: ‘You died [to your old self that loved the world’s fabled philosophy]’. And, ‘You were raised with Christ’. Where is Christ now? He’s above (v.1). So where is your life? Paul says, it’s above too.
You are not of this world anymore. Just as Christ is hidden, so your life is hidden with him. No one can see Christ – he’s in heaven. He has pierced through the material into the immaterial with his glorified body. And your life is with him there. That is who you are now.
You live your life here on earth in the truth of the reality of what you are above, not what you are here. So, if you live your life here on earth as if you love it here, then what does that say about your life which is hidden with Christ in God? It says, fable. Tradition. Folklore.
Why should anybody believe that your life is hidden with Christ in God? Because you say it? That’s not convincing. Evidence is convincing.
Let it be evident that you are not like the world you live in. Let the attitude of your mind then be on things above. Let your mindset me governed by things above. Let your diet be characterised by things above. Let your whole being yearn for and seek and desire the things that are above - where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the Father.
Without this mindset and this heart seeking, you may be the very best of religionists and nothing more. A Christian in name, but deep down still rooted in this world. Not dead to the flesh, but alive in it; relishing it with the cherry of Christianity sitting right on top.
Paul is cutting through it. He’s getting to the nub of the issue. Since your life is hidden with Christ in God, fix your minds where Christ is; seek with all your heart the things of Christ. All of us who are truly dead to the flesh and alive with Christ will do these things - they are the evidencewe are what we say we are.
Paul knows the Colossians will respond to these admonitions because they really are dead to the flesh (he says so in verse 3) and therefore these admonitions will serve to reset the mindset of the Colossians.
And perhaps we need the reset too.
The apostle John said, ‘do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them’. A persistent love for the world means the Father is not in a person.
You can’t belong to the Father unless you are dead to the world, and you can’t be dead to the world unless you have put your faith in Christ as ultimate reality - believing that this world’s philosophy is the very best of fables.
You can’t be alive to the world and alive to God. Either God is a fable and the world is real. Or the world is a fable and God is real. They are competing claims about what is authentic.
Saying you’re a Christian is not the deciding factor. Believing wholeheartedly with a bent of mind and heart towards the things above is evidence you are dead in Christ to the world, and alive with Christ above.
Paul finishes off the section with one final massive truth. Yes, Christ is hidden now – above, at the right hand of God - but that’s not going to be the case forever. Christ, who is your life, is going to appear according to verse 4 – literally, he’s going to unhide himself. Every eye is going to see him - Revelation 1:7. That’s not folklore, that’s true truth.
God, who is objective external authenticity has told us Jesus will, without fail, return. In that moment everybody will know what truth looks like.
And everybody will know that the world sold them a fable – a lie – and they believed it, but it will be too late then.
God demands faith. Without faith it is impossible for human beings to please God he tells us. That’s why Christ is hidden; that’s why our lives are hidden with Christ. The world must believe in the One God has sent them, over and against this world’s idea.
When it comes to the day of God’s burning anger against unbelievers for their unbelief, they will wish that he was hidden from them. But part of what it will be to be in hell, will be to live, forever, in the presence of the truth that they rejected.
Revelation 14:10, ‘They will be tormented with burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb [who is Jesus]. Oh, how they will wish he was hidden from them again. But he never will be.
What we do with the hidden Jesus now, ripples down into eternity, because when he reveals himself again, he will never hide himself again - not from his own people and not from those who rejected him as merely a good old fable.
Paul says, the Christ who will appear is your life. He is surely your life if:he not only made you and not only upholds you, but also saved you. And, if: when he returns, he will bring your life with him so that what is currently hidden, will be revealed.
Right now, your life hidden with Christ means that your body is subject to death; your soul prone to sin. But when your life appears with Christ, then it appears according to Paul in ‘glory’.
Here’s how it reads in Philippians 3: ‘We eagerly await a saviour from [heaven], the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body’.
That’s a truth worthy of some hours!
So, Paul is modelling for us in his letter, that God uses means to reset the attitudes of our minds when they are adrift. He’s modelling for us something that we can do for each other.
All of us swim in the same sea; all of us may be enticed all over again by the powerful ideas of this world. And we can be a part of the means God uses to stir up a mindset reset and a seeking heart in one another.
One of the hardest parts of Church life is avoiding legalism and judgment whilst caring enough for each other’s souls to be the means God would use to redirect a wayward soul to things that are above.
It calls for wisdom, it calls for prayer, it calls for love and it calls for faith.
Wisdom to know when a brother or sister is characterised by a love for the world.
Prayer that God in his mercy will use you and give you words and take any potential offence away. That you wouldn’t come across judgementaland overbearing and holier than thou.
Love to be concerned enough, aware enough, bold enough to carefully address it with them and to positively point them heavenwards again. Not tearing down but building up.
And faith to believe that a word of encouragement rightly motivated will be used to spur a true believer heavenwards.
Paul highlights some of the realities that are above for the benefit of the Colossians, but the bible is full of them.
As much as the bible contains God’s directives to his people - and we’re about to encounter a lot of those in chapter 3 - yet the greatest weapon against the philosophy of the world we live in, is to meditate on the stunning glories and majestic truths of what is going on in heaven right now and what will come from heaven in the future, which God in his grace has revealed to us in his word the bible.
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