What a Relationship with Christ Really Looks Like
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Have you ever been so tired that when you have to wake up your not really ready to wake up yet. You were still in such a deep sleep that when you force yourself you feel disorientated. It takes you a while to figure out what is going on. I often see this in my kids if you wake them up from their nap too early. One time when I was working third shift, I had to get up when I wasn’t ready and disorientated I stumbled into the bathroom and I trying to remember what I needed to do to get ready to go. Oh, yeah I need to make my hair look presentable. So I mindlessly grab something out of the cabinet and just before I spread this something in my hair, I realize that it is hand soap not hair gel. And so I wash my hands and fumble for the hair gel only to realize that this time I grabbed the tooth paste. I finally did get it right.
Sometimes we live our spiritual lives this way. We get disorientated. Our hearts and our minds get off the right track. We live our lives orientated to earthly things rather than to Christ. This is what Paul is addressing in Colossians 3. Paul wants these believers to grow spiritually by actually seeking a relationship with Christ.
In Colossians 2:6-8 Paul gives these believers two commands to follow if they are to actually grow in their spiritual lives in the Lord. Last week we examined the command found in v. 8
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Paul gives the command to beware, or to be on guard concerning empty deceptive philosophy- according to human tradition and according to elemental spirits (evil spirits).
How do we do that?
Paul tells us how in 2:16-23
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Guideline #1- Do not allow anyone to condemn your spiritual growth with standards that do not have Christ at the center
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
Guideline #2- Stop submitting yourselves to unbiblical rules and regulations
There are two fundamental flaws in attempting to grow spiritually through this empty deceptive philosophy
And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
Flaw #1- This philosophy doesn’t hold fast to Christ who is our Head, and therefore it doesn’t produce genuine growth- the growth from God.
Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
Flaw #2-This philosophy has an appearance of wisdom, but it is of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
That begs the question- if human philosophy is this flawed, then how can we grow spiritually? How can we stop the indulgence of our flesh?
Back in Col 2.6 Paul gives these believers a command that is at the heart of spiritual growth
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
We growth spiritually through dependent faith in Christ. What does that look like? How do we do that?
Paul’s answer is found in Col 3
Paul wanted these Colossians believers to grow spiritually, he wanted them to be able to stop the indulgence of their flesh. He wanted them to realize that this was only possible as they grew in their relationship with Christ.
Christians, genuine spiritual growth is only possible in our relationship with Christ.
What does a relationship with Christ for the believer really look like? And how does that effect spiritual growth in our lives?
Paul gives us several guidelines that we must follow if we are to have a relationship with Christ and actually grow in our spiritual lives.
I. You must reorient your heart and your mind IN CHRIST (3:1-4)
I. You must reorient your heart and your mind IN CHRIST (3:1-4)
A. The pattern of spiritual growth (3:1-2)
A. The pattern of spiritual growth (3:1-2)
1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Εἰ οὖν συνηγέρθητε τῷ Χριστῷ,*
Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ
Paul begins with a conditional phrase- Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ. He wants every one of us to consider this truth. Have you been resurrected together with Christ?
Paul has already made this wonderful declaration of our spiritual reality IN CHRIST.
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
If you are IN CHRIST, then you have participated in His death and his resurrection. You share in HIS life, you walk in newness of life because of your faith in the power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. Can you make this statement about your identity?
I AM RISEN WITH CHRIST?
God has made me alive together with Christ by forgiving me all my trespasses. God did that by taking all my sin, with its debt and legal demands, and nailing it to the cross. I believe with all my heart that I am saved, I have experienced forgiveness of my sins because of Christ and I now experience newness of life because of Christ.
IF THIS IS YOUR IDENTITY- then...
Pattern #1 of your new identity in Christ
SEEK the things that are above- where CHRIST is, seated at the right hand of God (v. 1)
SEEK the things that are above- where CHRIST is, seated at the right hand of God (v. 1)
Seek- devote serious effort to realize one’s desire or objective, strive for Christ, aim for Christ, desire Christ
Present tense imperative- keep on seeking Christ
Be preoccupied with the eternal realities that are ours IN CHRIST. This is to be the pattern of a believer’s life.
When Paul says we are to seek after the things that are above, he does not mean that we should seek to possess those things- they are already ours because of Christ. Rather the idea is that we must seek to orient ourselves totally to these heavenly realities. We must make our heavenly status, our relationship with Christ, the guidepost for all of our thinking and acting. We should be constantly occupied in striving for this orientation.
This idea of seeking is dealing primarily with the heart. It’s like the needle on a compass. If you have a compass and you take it out and hold it still what will the needle eventually do? It will reorient itself to point north. Here Paul calls for us to seek Christ- that is reorient our hearts so that they point towards heavenly realities.
Jesus said it this way:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Whatever is our treasure- whatever we love the most- there will our heart be also- that is exactly where the needle of the compass of our hearts will point.
Paul is saying this: you want to know the pattern for actual spiritual growth? You want to know how to actually stop the indulgence of your flesh? Then this must be a pattern of your life. Constantly reorient your heart so that it points toward Christ.
Folks, it is so easy for our hearts to point towards earthly things. The loves of this world creep into our lives and our hearts and we live our lives with the things of this earth orienting the needle of our hearts. Real spirituality comes from a heart that is seeking Christ- that is constantly reorienting itself so that it points toward Christ.
Pattern #2- of your new identity in Christ
SET your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (v. 2)
SET your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (v. 2)
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Set your affection- to give careful consideration to something, to set one’s mind on something.
The New American Commentary: Philippians, Colossians, Philemon The Nature of the Christian’s Higher Calling (3:1–2)
The term implies more than a way of thinking; it includes values and loves as well. It could well be translated “delight in things above.”
We are to set our minds on things above, where Christ is, our heavenly realities should so dominate our thinking that they become our delight.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Obviously, the thoughts of heaven that are to fill the believer’s mind must derive from Scripture. Is this the way you consume Scripture? Do you so fill your mind with heavenly realities, that Christ Himself becomes the delight of your mind?
Illustration: riding my bike and having Scripture run through my mind-
Not saying that you have to have a Bible verse in your mind 24/7, but we do need to regularly set our minds on things that are above, you need to purposefully consistently delight your mind with Christ.
We probably all know people, who claim to be Christians, who are living in such a way that it is really hard to tell the difference between them and an unsaved person. Their life is filled with earthly things. Their mind, their thoughts are earthly- atheism, homosexuality, alcohol- why are they growing spiritually? Because their minds are not delighting in the things above- their thinking is not being transformed IN CHRIST
17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Here are people that claimed to be Christians, but now they are the enemies of the cross of Christ! Why? They have orientated their hearts toward the pleasures of sin- their god is their belly (sinful lusts), and their glory is in their shame. The needle of the love of their heart points toward earthly things. And so too is their thinking. They mind earthly things- their mind is set on things of this earth. That which they delight in in their mind is only earthly.
BUT our conversation our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The needle of our hearts and the delight of our minds is on Christ. We reorient ourselves so that our hearts and minds point toward Christ and the day when He will change our vile bodies to be like unto his glorious body. That is the only thing that produces genuine spiritual growth.
B. The realities of spiritual growth (3:3-4)
B. The realities of spiritual growth (3:3-4)
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Having given the patterns for spiritual growth, Paul now tells them why they should follow those patterns. Why should I seek and set my mind on things above? Because of what is true of your reality in Christ. Here again Paul calls us to realize our identity IN CHRIST.
Reality #1 of your new identity in Christ
You are dead in Christ (v. 3)
You are dead in Christ (v. 3)
For- For this reason- you are dead or you have died- past action- this happened at the moment of your salvation when you identified with Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Your participated spiritually in the death of Christ. You are now dead- dead to the domination of sin over you. You are dead to the dominion of this world.
Why should I reorient my heart and mind IN Christ? Because you have died to sinful ways of the world. Why orient your heart and mind on the earth, if you have died to the dominion of this sinful world? Instead understand the reality of your identity in Christ.
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
This is your identity in Christ, this is your reality, so live that way!
Reality #2 of your new identity in Christ
Your life is hidden with Christ in God (v. 3)
Your life is hidden with Christ in God (v. 3)
What does it mean that our life is hidden with Christ?
Christ is the source of our life
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
We have eternal life because of Christ- our life is IN CHRIST. Because He lives, we also live.
2. The full measure of our life in Christ is yet to be revealed
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Right now we experience an incredible about of God’s blessings in Christ. If we had nothing else other than forgiveness of sins, that would be enough. But the reality is that our true life, the fullest expression of God’s blessings, what we are really living for, that is yet hidden in Christ. And we are waiting for the day when our true life begins.
3. Our lives our eternally secure because they are hidden in Christ.
2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress:
My God; in him will I trust.
2 My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer;
My shield, and he in whom I trust;
Who subdueth my people under me.
No one says it better than Paul did in Rom 8
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Your life is hidden with Christ, this is your reality, therefore reorient your heart and mind IN CHRIST!
Reality #3 of your new identity in Christ
You will appear with Christ in glory (v. 4)
You will appear with Christ in glory (v. 4)
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Lightfoot said this, “The veil which now shrouds your higher life from others, and even partly from yourselves, will then be withdrawn. The world which persecutes, despises, ignores now, will then be blinded with the dazzling glory of the revelation.”
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Right now, your higher life is hidden, even you do not fully understand what awaits you, but one day Christ, who is your life, He will appear, and because you have been resurrected together with Christ, YOU ALSO will appear with CHRIST! And it will be GLORY!
This is your identity, this is your reality IN CHRIST- so believer if you would actually grow spiritually, if you would actually stop the indulgences of your flesh, you must reorient your heart and your mind IN CHRIST.
Illustration: John Paton
“Amongst many who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian gentleman, whose crowing argument always was, ‘The Cannibals! you will be eaten by Cannibals!’ At last I replied, ‘Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be lain in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.’ The old gentlemen, raising his hands in a deprecating attitude, left the room exclaiming, ‘After that I have nothing more to say!’”
John Paton was a man who was seeking Christ and setting his mind on Christ. He was man who embraced the reality of his identity in Christ. And as a result he reoriented his heart and his mind in Christ.
Do you see how this is different from following rules and regulations? I don’t become spiritual by following rules. I become spiritual as I make Christ and the things above the treasure of my heart. I become spiritual as I delight my mind in Christ and in heavenly things instead of earthly things. I become spiritual as I grow in and embrace the realities of my identity in Christ. I actually grow in my spiritual life and become more like Christ when I reorient my heart and my mind IN CHRIST.
How about you folks?
What is your heart seeking after? What does your heart treasure? What does the needle of the compass of your heart point toward?
What is the delight of your mind? What consumes your thoughts? What do you fill your thinking with? Is your thinking consumed with earthly things or heavenly things?
Have you embraced the reality of your identity in Christ? Do you actually live as if you have identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ? Do you understand that your higher life in Christ is currently hidden? Do you embrace the truth that you one will appear with Christ and that it will truly be glory?
If you are to grow in your spiritual life then the first guideline you must follow is
You must reorient your heart and your mind IN CHRIST
Just imagine what your relationship with Christ could be if you actually lived this way! How much would you grow in Christ if you followed these commands in Colossians? How different would your lives be? We need to grow in our relationship with Christ, we need to walk in dependent faith in Christ- and here is the first step. Let’s follow Christ together.