Colossians: God's Final Answer to Political Correctness

Living the Resurrected Lifestyle

I. Five Things Every Believer is Given, (Colossians 3:1-4)

A. A Reminder , (v. 1a)

1. ( v. 1a ), “If then you have been raised up with Christ…”
a. When we read the word “if” we are anticipating a question. Yet the word introduces
a “truth”!
1) ( Matt. 4:3 ), “ IF you are the Son of God, command these stones become
bread.” IF = SINCE!
2) ( Lk. 11:27-28 ), “Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But IF God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O men of little faith!”
3) What a wonderful reminder – We have truly been raised with Christ !!!

b. The Christian has not gone through a “near-death experience,” they were dead and then rose again!
1) But when did this “death & resurrection” occur?
2) ( Col. 2:12 ), “… having been buried with Him in baptism , in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
3) Or as Paul reminds the Roman Christians, ( Rom. 6:3-4 ), “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ have clothed ourselves with Christ? Therefore we have been buried with Christ through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
4) So, when a person places their faith in Jesus and is then baptized, they go from death to life!

c. Remember, we can no longer be who we used to be before our death and spiritual resurrection!!!
1) A perfect example of this change of mind/lifestyle was Saul of Tarsus. ( Acts
9:1-2 ), “Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”



2) Then later…, ( Acts 9:18-20 ), “…and he arose and was baptized; and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.'”

B. A Responsibility , (vs. 1b, 2)

1. ( vs. 1b-2 ), “…keep seeking the things above…. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
a. Once we begin living the resurrected lifestyle, we have the responsibility to “keep seeking” God's will!
1) Sadly, there are those today who believe once they become a Xn they can sit back & relax!
2) God's word tells us that this is just the beginning (why else is it called being“Born Again”?!).
3) ( Quote Matt. 6:33; Phil. 3:13-14; Heb. 12:14 ), “Seek first God kingdom and His righteousness.” – “Forgetting what lies behind, reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” – “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification [holiness] without which no one will see the Lord.”
4) Therefore, now as Christians, we need to seek the things of God in our lives!
But how???

b. Our “Responsibility” to seek the things above begins with a decision of where we set our minds!!!
1) ( Pro. 23:7 ), “For as a man thinks within himself, so is he.”
2) ( Tit. 1:15 ), “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled & unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.”
3) ( Phil. 4:8 ), “Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, if there is any excellent, and anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.”
4) Christ gives us the responsibility to control our thoughts and now focus on the
things of God.
5) ( Rom. 8:5-7 ), “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile towards
God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, it is not even able to do so.”

c. We, therefore, have the responsibility to ask ourselves, “ ‘Am I setting my mind on the things above' in regards to; my marriage; my children, my parents, my job, my relationship to my church family, my time, my money, my recreation, my private times, my goals, my motives…?!”



C. A Resource , (vs. 1c)

1. ( vs. 1c ), “…If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God .”
a. The same power that raised Jesus from death and also from this earth, is the power now available to us!
1) If you don't think you can live a “resurrected lifestyle,” then consider the following…
a) ( Phil. 4:13 ), “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
b) ( Matt. 17:20 ), “Truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”
2) Jesus is our spiritual resource for victory! We are always victorious in Him!

D. A Reason , (v. 3)

1. ( vs. 3 ), “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” ­ – 2 Reasons we should live a resurrected lifestyle:
a. We “have died” : There is a sense where the Resurrected Christian is yet dead – to this world!
1) Dead to sin, ( Rom. 6:1-2 ), “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace might abound? God forbid! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”
2) Sin no longer has power over the Christian. Our minds & lives are focused above!!!

b. Our lives are hidden in Christ.” When someone hides they are concealed by wherever they are hidden!
1) “Hidden” implies safety & security.
2) We live the resurrected lifestyle when we place Jesus between us & the world. 3) ( Jn. 17:14-15 ), “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”
4) Reason we live a “Resurrected Lifestyle” is because it is the only safe/secure way to heaven!!!

C. A Revelation , (v. 4)

1. ( v. 4 ), “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
a. As we live a resurrected lifestyle now, our friends & others will not understand us. But they will later.
1) ( I Pt. 4:4 ), “…they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same excess of dissipation… and they malign you.”
2) ( Rev. 3:9 ), “Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but lie – behold, I will cause them to come & bow down at your feet, and to know that I have loved you.”

b. Those whom belong to Christ will one day be revealed before the world for they truly are!!!

1) The last great day, ( II Thess. 1:6-10 ), “It is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relive to you who are afflicted, and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who have not obeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who believed!”
2) Note: those who will spend eternity away from the presence of God fall into one of two groups…
a) Those who “…do not know God.” These are the ones who do not know the God of the Bible; Buddhists, Moslems, atheists, animists.
b) Those who “…have not obeyed the gospel.” This includes the Jews, and all those who have not done what God in the gospel says a person needs to do to be saved.
1)) ( Rom. 1:16 ), “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God's power unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.”
2)) ( Mk. 16:15-16 ), “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all mankind. The person who has believed [i.e., the have
now come to know the God of the Bible and are ready to
submit to His authority], and has been baptized [i.e., is willing
to “obey the gospel” ] shall be saved [i.e., will not face the
retribution of Jesus when He comes again!].”

“…who do not know God and who have not obeyed the gospel”
– Versus -
“He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved.”