Minds Set on Things Above
Colossians 3:1-4 ESV
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
For us to have been raised with Christ to newness of life in
him, we have to have first of all died with him to sin and to self. Our old
self must have first died with him so that we could be born anew of the Spirit
of God, and so that we can put on that new self in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Many people today appear to be skipping the death part and
they are going right to the “new life” part, or so they think. But we can’t be born
anew of the Spirit of God unless our old self is first put to death with Christ.
Death has to occur first, and then the new life in Christ can enter in.
Then, as new creations in Christ Jesus, our Lord, we are to
seek the things that are from God, and these are what we are to set our minds
on, not the things of this world. And these things from above would be such
things as holiness, godliness, honesty, integrity, morality, faithfulness, and
the like.
The focus of our lives now should be on Jesus Christ and on
his word, and on obedience to him and to his commands. And our focus should be
on pleasing him in all that we do and say. For, Jesus isn’t an add on to our old
lives, but he is now to be our life. Our lives should now revolve around him.
We, as followers of Jesus, are to emulate him. We are to do
and to say the kinds of things that he did and said. We definitely should be
living and sharing the full gospel message with others, and we should be loving
the people of this world as Jesus loved and loves us.
Put to Death What is
Colossians 3:5-8 ESV
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.”
Dying with Christ to sin and living to Christ and to his
righteousness is not a one-time thing we do when we believe in Jesus, for
belief in Jesus is also not a one-time thing. It is present tense, something
that is continuous and is ongoing, not past tense only, as is also death to sin
and living to God.
But this daily putting to death what is earthly and sinful
is not a matter of merely mouthing confession of sins, especially if they are
deliberate, habitual, and premeditated sins. We can’t keep on living in sin as
a matter of practice and think confession of sin is putting it to death.
Putting sin to death means we don’t give in to it,
especially we don’t give in to it on a habitual basis. It means that daily we
say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly passions, and we live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives in the power of God’s Spirit while we wait for our
Lord’s soon return.
Sin is no longer our master. We no longer live under the
control of sin and of Satan. Now Jesus Christ is our only Lord and Master. And
he has made the way for us out from underneath the temptation to sin. He has
made the way of escape for us, so we don’t give in to sinful impulses.
Living in sin is to be past tense in our lives. We once
walked in immorality, impurity, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
That means we no longer do those things. We no longer make sinning against God
and others our practice. All those things are to now be put away from our
lives.
And there are no excuses permitted for continuing in sinful
practices, either. The believer in Jesus has been set free from bondage
(slavery, addiction) to sin by the power of Jesus’ blood shed for us on that
cross. So, you don’t get an “out” by claiming you are an addict.
Don’t Tell Lies
Colossians 3:9-10 ESV
“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
The practice of lying goes hand in hand with sinful addiction.
Those who are addicted to sin often will lie to cover up their sinful practices
because they don’t want others to know that they are sinning in certain ways.
This is particularly the case with sexual sins.
Those who are still enslaved to sin will lie in advance to
give a false impression of what they are doing as well as they will lie after
the fact to cover up the crime already committed. And they will lie to
themselves in the process to convince themselves that they are justified in
their sins.
The cheap grace gospel, which is predominant in today’s
modern church movement, gives the “believer” permission to sin and to lie to
cover up his sin, too, because it does not require the sinner to repent of his
sins or to obey the Lord or to submit to Christ and to his Lordship.
So, sinful addiction is running rampant in today’s modern
church goers who are professing faith in Jesus Christ, but with a faith based
on human flesh, and in a gospel which is also man-made, and which requires no
dying with Christ to sin and no living to Christ and to his righteousness.
Nonetheless, God-persuaded faith, which is founded in Jesus
Christ, and which is perfected by our Lord Jesus, dies with Christ to sin and
it lives to Christ and to his righteousness. It does not give permission to the
“believer” to continue living in sin guilt free.
Thus, we must understand here that if we make sin our
practice (habit), and if righteousness is, thus, not what we practice, that we
will not inherit eternal life with God. But we will surely die in our sins. For
we are all going to be judged by God by what we do in this life, for good or
for evil.
He
Gives Purpose
An
Original Work / June 9, 2012
“Listen to Me when I’m calling to you.
Obey freely My word.
Follow Me in all of My ways.
Do all that I say.
Hear Me gently whisper to you
My will for your life and future.
Give all of your life and heart to
Follow Me always.”
Repent of your sins and worship Jesus.
He’s your Lord and Master.
He died for your sins so you could
Live with Him today.
He has a plan for your life and
He gives purpose and direction.
He gives meaning to your life,
So follow Him today.
“I love you so much I gave My life for
You to walk in My ways,
Living for Me each day as you
Bow to Me and pray.
Witness for Me of your love for Me and
Of My grace and mercy,
How I died to save you of your
Sins now and always.”
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