Col 3:1-3
On Being Heavenly Minded: Keep Your Eyes On The Prize—Col 3:1-4
We must strive to be heavenly minded!
What we have here is a wealth of doctrinal teaching and one set of instructions.
The doctrinal teaching is in most of 1, and 3, and the clear instruction is in part of 1 and in verse 2.
1. Doctrine of Identification with Christ—Col 3:1
a. Is there an “if” here?
(1) If—1st class condition—“since”
(2) “you were raised…”—aorist, since you have been raised—a snapshot
(3) When were you raised with Christ?
(4) Before time began, God planned it—and what God plans, He completes—Eph 1:3ff!
(5) Because of Substitution, we died with Him on the Cross, and we were raised for our justification—Rom 4:25.
(6) In your life, there was a time when He made you spiritually alive. Which of these things does this aorist refer to?
(7) How about all of them? I think so, but primarily it is talking about our personal experience!
b. What is it to be raised with Christ?
(1) We were dead in our sins
(2) We were blind, deaf, dumb
(3) We were slaves to sin.
(4) Christ has given us life!
(5) Rom 6:1-11!!!
(6) Rom 8:1-4!!!
c. Where is Christ now?
(1) “Where Christ is,” and “…sitting at the right hand of God…” are separate thoughts—we are where He is, and where He is, is Heaven!
(2) “is” –present tense—continuous
(3) sitting—present nominative participle
(4) In God’s mind, we are with Him in Heaven now!
d. How?
(1) “you died”—aorist
(2) “is hidden…” perfect passive—this is a done deal, and you did not accomplish it!
(3) With Christ, in God--! What power!
(a) “sun” the little Greek word—we are not just hidden, we are hidden with Christ
(b) furthermore, we are “with Christ, in God.” “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing!”
(4) Christ IS our life! We don’t life FOR Jesus, we live IN Jesus—He lives through us!
(5) This is possible because of Who God Is—Rom 4:17!!!
e. Location—Where is Jesus Now? “…above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God….
(1) While Christ will be even more greatly exalted on That Day, He is even now at the right hand of the majesty on high. There are many references to this fact.
(2) Old Testament—Ps 110! This psalm is often quoted in the NT.
(3) Jesus prophesied his future location at God’s Right—Mat 26:64, Mark 14:62
(4) The Disciples saw Him go —Mark 16:19
(5) Peter preached about it—Acts 2:33-34, Acts 5:31
(6) Stephen had a vision of it—Acts 7:55-56
(7) There is deep doctrinal and practical significance to the fact—Rom 8:34See also—Heb 1:1-3, 8:1, 10:12, 12:2.
(8) And the principalities and powers are subject to Him! 1 Pet 3:22
(9) And we are there as well! Eph 1:1-18!
f. Identification—We have died and been resurrected already, and this is not JUST “positional truth.” We are spiritually alive, or we do not belong to Christ!
(1) “Since…” this is so if you belong to Him.
(2) “you were raised…” aoristè a done deal
(3) Salvation is a spiritual death and a spiritual resurrection—Gal 2:20
(a) It happens initially when we are made alive by God’s power in regeneration—Eph 2:1, 6
(b) But it starts as a death, as an identification with Christ in His death, 2 Tim 2:11, Rom 6:1-11
(4) It continues through our lives—Rom 8:11 "But if [“since,” 1st class condition]
(5) 1 Pet 2:24
2. Instruction: What do we do with this wonderful and deep doctrinal Truth? Col 3:1b, 2
a. “seek”—“keep on seeking—imperative mood, present tense—we are commanded to seek and keep on seeking! Same usage elsewhere: Mat 6:33, Mat :7
b. “things which are above…” è the upper things—
(1) Not the lower things which tie us down—it takes no effort for them to show up and intrude.
(2) The upper things, the things about Truth, Heaven, Hell, Eternity, Jesus, Salvation, Yes!
c. ‘Set your mind”—again, a present imperative, we are commanded to have a Christlike mindset on a continual basis!
(1) Illustration—down this week, struggling with sin and with faithlessness. Showed up at church with my chin dragging the floor. The Wednesday sermon was on justification, thoroughly Biblical. By its end, I was far better—this stuff works!
(2) Other uses of the same construction:
(a) 2 Cor 13:11 Phil 2:5ff—Note that Paul does not give them a list of things to accomplish, he tells them to have a Godly mindset!
(b) Phil 3:13-15
3. “Whenever” When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
a. This is the force of the Greek here—
(1) Aorist—a point in time
(2) Passive—He will appear at the time set by the Father
(3) Subjunctive—this shows the undefined aspect of the appearing.
(4) At a point in time unknown to us, he will appear.
b. Doctrine: The appearance of Christ and translation of the church\
(1) MacArthur has an interesting perspective here—that Paul was not primarily concerned with the theology of eschatology, but mainly with its use in a pastoral context, to comfort believers.
(2) This pastoral use was exercised by Paul and others elsewhere:
(3) In Mat 24, John 14:1-3, and other places, Jesus used the doctrine of His return to comfort and warn believers.
(4) Paul had similar uses for the doctrine of Christ’s return for His people—1 Th 4:13-18, 1 Th 5:1-6,
(5) Peter and Jude had similar uses for the Truth—2 Pet 3:1-15, Jude 24
(a) And so here, Paul uses the Truth about Christ’s return for the church to excite believers to the blessed hope, reassure them, comfort them, and spur them on to holy living—2 Pet 3:11 ,Mat 24:44, 1 Th 5:23, 1 Tim 6:14, 1 John 2:28, Luke 12:35-36, Titus 2:11-13
(b) He will be revealed (phaneroo)—that is, His sudden return will be a real revelation, in the absolute sense. This is described in many of the passages above, but the personal impact on us, and our share in the joy and glory is also taught in several places: 1 Pet 5:4, 1 John 2:28, 1 John 3:2
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