Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Colossians 3:1-4 | Date: October 4, 2020 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Colossians chapter 3, I’d like to read verses 1 to 4. “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 mind on things that are above, not on things on the 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.”

Let’s bow together. Our Father, we are grateful for this, your word. We’re grateful for this wonderful epistle to the Colossians and all that it has for us. We pray as we work our way through it in the Sunday school hour that you will give us a right understanding of it and through it, give us a new appreciation of the all-supremacy and all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray that as this passage instructs us, you will use that understanding to shape the way we live for your glory. In Jesus’ name we ask, amen.

The Unrivaled Lordship Of Jesus Christ

The theme of the early church in their preaching—the theme, perhaps above all others, in the preaching of the early church—was the unrivaled lordship of Jesus Christ. “Lord” was their favorite title. This is the title they give to Jesus when referring to him consistently. That, you remember, was the message of Pentecost. When the Spirit descended in great power, the Apostle Peter got up to preach, and he says, “This is what all that means. All that you have seen that is so miraculous and wonderful, what it means is God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” He is the exalted Lord.

And you see it in their praying, you see it in their preaching. There was a note of urgency in their preaching because of this conviction of Christ’s lordship. He is the returning Lord. He will be judge of all the earth. He is the Lord to whom everyone else is accountable. At the center of the worship of the early church was this recognition that Christ Jesus is the risen, exalted Lord. And in fact, your recognition of that will determine your eternal destiny. If we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. We’ll find when we get there in Sunday school hour, Colossians 1 verses 15 and following, that the Apostle has a wonderful passage here extolling the Lordship of Christ where he’s Lord of creation, he’s Lord over the church. The Lordship of Christ is the great message of the early church and with that are just massive implications. And we’ll work our way through those as we go along in the series.

But it’s important at this juncture in chapter three to recognize that our Lord is Lord in a dual sense. On one level, Jesus is Lord because he is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the eternal Trinity. The great distinctive of the Christian faith is that one God—our God, one God, who is God over all—subsists in three persons: three distinct persons, who together are one God, one in essence, one in being, and yet three in person, a mystery we have nothing to compare it to. So on one level, Jesus is the eternal Lord. He has always been Lord, creator of all that is.

But on another level, we find in the New Testament a consistent emphasis that Jesus has an achieved lordship; He has become Lord. He’s been exalted to Lordship. We find this in many passages, some even in the Old Testament or in the New Testament in a prevalent way, where Jesus has achieved a new Lordship. As the mediator of God’s people, he has come, he has accomplished his saving work, and now as a result of his successful work, he has achieved the right to rule, and he now is the exalted Lord.

We find this reflected—we won’t take time because the time has got on this morning—we won’t take time to look them up, but just several prominent passages in the New Testament that work this out. Matthew chapter 28, I suppose most famously in the New Testament. This is after Jesus’ death. After his resurrection, we now have the crucified risen Lord saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” He’s achieved lordship as a result of his saving work.

I suppose my favorite picture of that is in Revelation chapter 5. You remember in chapter 4 of Revelation, we have the sovereign God sitting on the throne, worshiped by all around him, and he’s unapproachable in his holiness, and all before him are bowing, “Holy, holy, holy.” The Lord who rules over all. That’s the larger context of the rest of the book of Revelation. Chapter 5, we have the sovereign on the throne with a scroll in his hand, which evidently with the seven seals signifies that it’s his last will and testament, as it were, his purpose for salvation and judgment for all of world history. And heaven is filled with the redeemed in the symbolism of Revelation chapter 5. Who in the world is worthy to take that scroll and carry out God’s purposes? No one could do that. And then someone says, “Look, there’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He has prevailed to take the scroll from the sovereign’s hand.” And you look, and now this time it’s not the lion; it’s the Lamb as it has been slain. And he takes the scroll and he’s given the kingdom. And he now is the one who is able, through the rest of the book of Revelation, to carry out God’s purposes in salvation and judgment. And all of heaven breaks out into that wonderful song, “You are worthy to take the scroll because…” Why is he worthy? “Because you have been slain and by your blood you have bought men and women to God out of every nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue.” Through his successful saving work, he’s achieved this lordship.

You find that reflected in Philippians chapter 2: he who was in the form of God, humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. In Acts chapter 2 that I’ve already mentioned, the Apostle Peter says this is the whole point, that this exalted Lord now has poured out his Spirit. And he even points to Psalm 110, that famous messianic psalm where God says to the Messiah, “Sit here at my right hand while I make your enemies your footstool.” And Peter says this indicates that that has happened. He has been made Lord and Christ.

This is Daniel chapter 7, where we have the nations figured as those awful beasts devouring the world and devouring one another until God steps up to the throne, brings everyone into judgment, and the beasts are slain. And in that context, he tells us, “I saw one like the Son of Man. He’s riding on the clouds of heaven. He approaches the throne, and to him is given the kingdom.” So here’s this great heavenly figure who appears before the sovereign and he’s given the kingdom. He’s achieved his lordship. That is Matthew chapter 28. That is Revelation chapter 5. Christ, as a result of his saving work, has achieved this universal lordship. And what that means now is that he has singular authority to save and he has singular authority to judge. And all the world is his to determine who will he save and who will be judged.

The message of the early church then was: Jesus is Lord. Make no mistake about it. He is Lord. I think the early church would have just shuddered to hear what was so popular in our generation of the Christian church: “Make Jesus Lord.” You can’t. God beat you to it. You’re not qualified. Their message was not “make Jesus Lord.” Their message was “Jesus is the exalted Lord.” And to him, you will be accountable. You may bow your knee before him today—he’s offered terms of peace and you may be saved—or another day you’ll bow before him in judgment. But make no mistake, he is Lord and you are accountable to him. And that is the message of the early church. Christ is Lord over all. And we have that referred to in Colossians 3 verse 1: “If you then have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” Another allusion to Psalm 110. Christ has been made Lord. There he is.

Now, of course, that lordship is not fully on display yet. There’s a “now” and there’s a “not yet.” All through our series last year on Sunday mornings, we saw that there is this thing that we like to call inaugurated eschatology. That’s the big word—that all that God has purposed for the end has been brought in, in measure. It’s been inaugurated. Not fully displayed, not fully manifested yet, but here it is. And that’s what Paul is referring to here. Jesus is on his throne, established as Lord.

Union With Christ In His Exalted Lordship And Glory

Now that, in broad terms, is the theological setting of chapter 3 here, verses 1 to 4. Now if that’s the setting, we should notice that the focus here is just a bit narrower. Paul’s focus is not on Jesus’ established lordship. That’s the context he gives us. His focus is on our union with Christ in his exalted lordship and glory. Look at verse 1 again: “If you then have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” His point here is that we are joined to Christ in his exalted glory.

Now you’ve heard me many times here, and Pastor Boyd as well, you’ve heard us many times speak of union with Christ. It is something of Paul’s signature theme. You find it all the way through his epistles, scores of times over and over again. You find it in that little prepositional phrase: “in Christ.” In Christ. In Christ. With Christ, through Christ. All of these phrases to show us that what we have in salvation we have only because we are united to Jesus the Savior who has accomplished that salvation for us. It’s the rub of it all. All that Jesus has done to save is of no value to you whatever unless you are savingly united to him in faith. And so in Christ we have every blessing. In Christ we have salvation. It was in Christ we were chosen. It’s in Christ that we are redeemed. It’s in Christ that we’re forgiven. All of the blessings come only because we are joined to Jesus Christ.

And Paul is referring to that union here in verse one: “You’ve been raised with Christ.” Now that assumes something else that he has said back in chapter 2 and verse 20, and then again here in verse 3 of chapter 3, and that is, “you have died with Christ.” Strange way to talk—talking to people who can listen and hear and say, “you have died.” But he’s picking up this theme of union with Christ. Christ in his saving work acted alone. He alone could do it. He died bearing the sin of others. And he had to accomplish the work himself. And yet there’s a very important sense in which he was not alone, but all of his people are, as it were, riding piggyback on his shoulders. And we were with him. And so Paul can say, “I was crucified with Christ.” We have died with Christ. And he says it again here in verse 3: “You have died.” And so verse 1, “you have been raised with Christ” just as you died with him in his crucifixion. That is, joined to him in his death in a very important sense, now you have been raised with him. Our union with Christ is both in a representative way and in a very organic, connected way, so that we experience his new life. We died with him, and now we are raised with him. We’re seated in the heavens with him in his exaltation. We are in Christ.

Paul expounds this at length in chapter two. We’ll see that in our Sunday School series. We find it famously in Ephesians chapter two, Romans chapter six, that we are one with Christ in his resurrection. But now more to the point here, still sharpening the focus. Our focus is not on union with Christ in his death. The sharpest focus is not on union with Christ in his resurrection. The sharpest focus is on union with Christ in his exaltation. “You’ve been raised with Christ, therefore seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” The focus is his resurrection, ascension, exaltation.

Now again, there’s a “now” and a “not yet,” to be sure. One day we’ll know in full what it is to be exalted with Christ in glory. And we’ll share with him in all of the inheritance that he receives. But there’s a “not yet” of it also. We are there with Christ in a very privileged kind of status. And this is not just objectively speaking in a representative way. This is the tension you feel in your Christian life, where you feel that you’ve been pulled between two worlds. On the one hand, you feel that you’ve been exalted with Christ. On the one hand, you sense and you feel that you belong to another age. And on the other hand, you feel like you’re still in this present evil world and you feel yourself tugged between the two. It’s the tension of the Christian life—the “now” and the “not yet” of being risen and exalted with Christ.

Exhortation To Christian Living

Now, what’s significant about all of this is that in this context, Paul is not just doing theology as I’ve just been doing. He lays it out there as the theological context, but his point here is not to expound theology. He’s been doing that since chapter one, verse 15, all the way through chapter two in a marvelous way. But here his purpose is not to expound theology. Here his purpose is to exhort us with regard to Christian living. So he says, in verses 1 and following, “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 on the earth, because you’ve died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” And then verse 5 and following: “Put to death your sins. Put on the new man, having put off the old,” and so on.

His point here is to exhort us with regard to Christian living, but what he wants to do first is to set that exhortation to Christian living in its right Christian gospel-shaped theological context. Having been raised with Christ, notice how he puts it: “If then, if then,” or “since” is the sense of it. If then you’ve been raised with Christ, then seek those things that are above. Simply put, have you been raised with Christ? Have you been joined to Christ in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and exaltation? Have you been joined to Christ in all that? Well, then live like it. That’s the point. It’s a call to live in keeping with our status and our standing and our experience in Christ in his resurrection glory.

Anybody that’s been to school, you’ve heard the name Copernicus. He’s the man who changed the world. Changed the universe, actually. Actually, he didn’t change the universe, but he changed the way we look at the universe. Up until that time, we always thought that the whole universe revolved around the earth. And now, since Copernicus, we know it revolves around the sun. And so we refer to it as a Copernican revolution. The Apostle Paul is saying here, every believer, every man and woman in Christ, has undergone a revolution of that magnitude. Now we have been raised with Christ into the heavenlies, and now all of life has to be viewed that way. Live in keeping with what you are in Christ. Has Christ been raised? Yes. Has he ascended? Yes. Is he exalted in glory? Yes. Are you joined with him in that? Yes. Then live like it.

And in fact, this ought to affect not only how you behave, but how you think. Did you see that? “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated on the right hand of God.” That has to do with ambitions, goals. Verse two: “Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth.” This ought to shape our ideals, our goals, and everything about us. Live in keeping with what you are in Christ. This is another passage that we see so often in Paul, where he is simply saying, “be what you are.”

Now there’s still more to this that gets us closer still to the point that Paul is driving at. Paul is not just trying to shape our perspective. Notice verses two and three again: “Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For…” There’s the explanatory conjunction. “Because, set your mind on things above. Why? Because you’ve died. And your life is hidden with Christ in God.” That is, you have not only in a representative sense been joined with Christ in his exaltation, but you yourself have undergone this great change. And because in your own experience you have died with Christ and been raised with him, somehow his death and resurrection 2,000 years ago somehow becomes the experience of the believer joined to Christ. And so now we died with him and we’ve been raised with him to newness of life, to use Paul’s language in Romans chapter 6.

And so what Paul is telling us here is this not only ought to shape your perspective—he’s not talking here only about perspective—he’s reminding us of enablement. That, you remember, is the difference between—one of the major differences between—the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Old Covenant commanded holiness, too. It commanded behavior, but all it was was the law written on tables of stone. It’s like the speed limit sign on the freeway when it says 55. It can’t really make you want to. And Jeremiah tells us that’s the difference between the Old Covenant and the New. The Old Covenant commanded but made no provision of enablement. It gives no “want to.” The New Covenant is entirely different. It won’t be like that Old Covenant. He’ll write his law on your heart and cause you to walk according to his statutes. And that’s what Paul is speaking of here. He’s enabled us.

How has he enabled us to live for him and obey? Answer: he’s joined us to Christ in his resurrection, his death, resurrection, ascension, and exaltation. And that is reflected in our own experience. He’s reminded us that because we are joined to Christ in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension—because of our union with him in that—we ourselves have undergone a great change. And so it’s what you’ve heard me say so often: we obey God now, not just because he commands it, not just out of fear, but we now obey God because we can. There’s a new enablement that has been given by his Spirit in transforming the heart. And Paul is telling us this. This is how God enables us. By his Spirit, he joins us to Christ in his death, burial, resurrection, exaltation. And now you can do what he has commanded. From the inside out, he has made a great change. And so, it ought to affect our ambitions, our goals, and our desires. And again, Paul is simply saying, “be what you are.”

A Further Incentive

Now that has a practical outworking, and in verses five and following, Paul works that out in a number of different ways with regard to specific aspects of Christian behavior. There are certain things we do not do—we must not do—and there are certain things we must do, and there must be virtues that we cultivate, and he works those out in detail throughout the rest of the chapter, and even into chapter four, verse one. This is what a transformed life will look like. Well, we’ll have to work that out in the Sunday school hour as we go through the passage in detail.

But notice a further incentive in verse four. Verse two: “Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth. Because you’ve died, your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Verse four: “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” The day of Christ’s return, the day of his glory. It is one of the most marvelous things a Christian can just sit and contemplate. What will that day be like when Jesus comes? I love—perhaps my favorite way of describing it is what Jesus gives in Matthew chapter 24. You remember where he says there are going to be people who tell you, “I’ve come.” They’ll say, “Come on out in the field, look, he’s here.” Or, “Come on into this room, I’ll show you, he’s here, we’ve got him.” Remember what Jesus says? “Don’t believe it. When I come, you’ll know it. It’ll be like the lightning flashing from the east to the west. You won’t miss it when I come.” And we have glimpses of that in various parts of the scripture: Christ coming, returning in his glory, and all the world brought before him to bow before him and acknowledge his lordship. What a wonderful day. This world today, in the words of Psalm 2, is screaming with rebellion against Christ. “We won’t have him. We won’t have his law.” And then he’ll come. I can’t wait.

And what Paul is saying here is that when that happens, we’ll be transformed with him. And this work that he has begun in us will then be made complete. Or in the language of verse 3, our life now is hidden with Christ, but what we are in Christ in that day will be fully revealed. And so there’s not just inaugurated eschatology; there’s fully realized eschatology in the end, and we will be there. I wish this song were in our hymnal. It’s an old song we used to sing years ago: “Then we shall be what we should be. And then we shall be where we would be. Things that are not now nor could be. Soon shall be our own.” And that’s what Paul is looking for here. In that day, our identity with Christ will be fully revealed.

And so Paul tells us here, in these verses: live like it. Live because of Christ—Christ in you. Risen with him. Exalted with him. Live for Christ. Live in light of Christ. Live unto Christ. Live because of who you are in Christ for his glory and all in anticipation of the great day when it’ll be finally made complete. Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, what a marvelous passage to remind us not only of our great Savior and the glorious accomplishments of his work, but to remind us of this marvelous, mind-bending teaching that we are united with him in it all—that joined to him, we’ve been brought to glory and one day we’ll be brought fully to glory. And as the Apostle instructs us here, give us, Lord, the grace to recognize that and to live accordingly. Help us to live as people who have died and been raised to new life in Christ. For your honor and glory, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.