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Colossians: How Christians Grow
“Christ is All and in All”
Study #8: Christ in My Mind (Colossians 3:1-11)
The epistles of the apostle written to some of these churches like Ephesus, Philippi and Colosse. All have one kind of format. He deals with DOCTRINAL TRUTH in the first half and then with PRACTICAL TRUTH in the last half.
We have just passed from the doctrinal truth into the practical. The rest of the series is going to be an application to our individual lives as believers. He’s talked about the Gnostics. He’s talked about all of these things that were resident in Colosse and now he wants to apply it to their lives. That’s where we are.
Our KEY VERSE out of the eleven is verse 2.
The one thing about this study that’s different than all of the other studies is we have TWO KEY VERSES. The key verse for the whole book is Colossians 3:11.
There are FIVE COMMANDS in the passage.
There’s a command in verses 1, 2, 5, 8 and 9.
Those 5 commands weld the passage together because now he’s digging into the practical aspects and giving commands as to what he feels would be the solution to the problem in the Colossian church.
v. 1 Since, therefore, you were raised with Christ, be seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
He’s going back to chapter 2 and describing that we were identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, and risen to newness of life. He’s telling us we need to start thinking from a heavenly perspective.
He’s moving out of the classroom and he’s getting into everyday life. He starts right out with a command:
“Since, therefore, you were raised with Christ,”
Matthew 6:33
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these other things will be taken care of, be added unto you.
Instead of seeking for fame, wealth, popularity and honor, as Christians we should be concentrating on “things above.”
The questions we ask ourselves are:
What are our priorities?
Where do our thoughts go first thing in the morning?
Is it to the Lord and are we thankful that we’re still above ground and we’re having another opportunity to serve Him and to be more intimately involved with Him?
What is our first love?
All of these are questions that relate to our communion with the Lord. Concentrate on your communion. Get your head in heaven. It’s going to make life all that more meaningful down here on earth.
“seeking the things above,”
Seeking FELLOWSHIP and COMMUNION.
If we are laying up treasure, bearing fruit and serving the body of Christ then we are on target with what we need to be doing. But we must have the total and complete control of the Head who is in heaven. We must consult Him so that we’re not off track.
Command #1: “be seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”
From the Greek point of view this is a PRESENT IMPERATIVE.
Translated this literally means “be seeking the things above and keep on seeking regularly.”
It’s something that should be a part and parcel of everything we do every day.
The PRESENT TENSE would bear that out.
Keep on “seeking things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”
(Taken from Don's messages in Colossians)
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