Seek Those Things Above

I. Ten Years 00:01

Lord, we hear that invitation to come just as we are, and today we expect to meet you here. Lord, speak through the words that we say, the words that we sing. In Jesus’ name, amen.

So I wanted to start off by celebrating a little bit. My wife and I celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary on Friday. So, congratulations to Haley. Some of you in this room are like, “Wait, that’s Margaret and Joe’s anniversary.” And they’re absolutely right. We got married on the exact same day, 10 years ago. So, congrats to Margaret and Joe. Glad you guys are here. Every single clap that just happened, we know those all go to the wives, right? We’re real here. We’re honest with ourselves.

Very excited to be celebrating that with Haley. We got to go visit the Getty and look at some beautiful art. I’ve got at least one of the photos of what we saw that we’ll look at later. But it was really an interesting introduction to the lessons that we were talking about today, as I’m thinking about 10 years with Haley. We were talking about all that’s happened in the 10 years since we got married, and it’s incredible how blessed our life is. And in the midst of your daily walk, you can just lose sight of that. And so I just encourage you to take those moments to reflect on what God has done in your life.

II. All Is Vanity 01:20

And especially in light of a Sunday full of Scriptures about what’s important and what is not important. Every single Scripture we read today was to teach you what you should be focused on, what you should give your attention to, what matters. In fact, in our Old Testament we read from Ecclesiastes. And if you read it without the light of Christ, it can be pretty depressing. Everything that you did, everything you worked so hard for (Deacon Jeff, that upholstery business) doesn’t matter. It’s all gone. Your 60 years of work in your job: it’s just going to fade away. You can’t take it with you, and it is vanity (Eccles 1.2). Meaningless. It feels like it matters. What are you saying? In fact, the word there for vanity in Hebrew is “breath,” “vapor.” That’s how insubstantial everything that you work so hard for in this life is, except when transformed by the kingship and resurrection of Jesus.

So let me explain what I’m talking about here. There’s a great example that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. When you think about Jesus’ life, he spent 30 years as a craftsman, a woodworker. He probably repaired roofs and furniture and walls. He worked with his hands for 30 years, and then he had three years of public ministry. Do you think that Jesus wasn’t performing the reconciliation of the world for 30 years as a craftsman? Do you think that those 30 years were meaningless in his life? The vast majority of his life was working in the family business, fixing things, building things, working with his hands. And I argue today to you, I submit to you, that those 30 years were just as much Jesus reconciling the world to himself as the three years of public ministry. That actually part of being incarnate, being human, is bringing order to a world that is fallen and broken. That as an administrator in your office, as you’re organizing spreadsheets, you are participating in some way in the creative act that God began at creation, when he took chaos and formed it into order and beauty. That every single thing that we do in our life, actually, when in the proper place, reveals the reality of God as good, God as beautiful, God as the Creator, the director.

In fact, I didn’t put the picture in this time, but there’s this beautiful icon, this religious art, of Joseph the carpenter with his son. His son is holding some tools, and he’s holding some tools. And on the back, on the wall, there’s a picture of the galaxy, the universe, as though Joseph, so proud of his son’s artwork, had nailed it to the wall to remind themselves of what he had done. And you think about that, and you think about the tools that Jesus in that painting is holding, and the work that he did with his hands. The creative act that God did through Jesus in the beginning never ceased. And everything we do (writing, crafting, serving, helping, answering phones for a telemarketing company, whatever you do), when submitted to Christ, can be transfigured, transformed. In fact, that’s the mystery of the incarnation: that God actually was made flesh. When Jesus became incarnate, he made all material validated, transfigured. We’re not like the Platonists and these people who try to separate out, as though your physical reality is not worth anything.

And I wanted to start there, because in Ecclesiastes you can miss the point. You can think, because he says you can’t take it with you, “Well, then what should you do? You should opt out of life. You should just go live in the wilderness and commune with the trees and hang out with Jesus.” No, no. You are building the kingdom of God as you build your business, as you build your family, as you buy your house. But the problem is, we put all of our effort and attention into these things, and we forget whose things they are. We think our job is our provision. We think our house is our reward. We think all of these things matter more than Jesus. It’s all about what’s important, not about devaluing that which we do. Does that make sense? All is vanity when you try to build your life on that vapor, on that breath, on your work.

III. Seek the Things That Are Above 06:39

Now, this becomes really clear when we jump into our Colossians verse, and that’s where we’re going to be hanging out this morning, in Colossians chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. And remember, in Colossians Paul is in prison as he’s writing these things. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like it’s hard to think about God when you’re in a difficult spot, but Paul was writing the most beautiful theology ever written from a prison cell. So let’s just remember that even in the midst of the chaos of our life, we can think on him. We can make him real in us. He’s with you right there. And Paul knew that better than most. As he writes here:

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col 3.1–2

Now, my job during the week is to drive a flatbed around. I work with a lot of people in this room; you guys know this. I have to strap down the material, and I have to make sure that it doesn’t fall off the truck. It’s like the number one job: don’t let the material fall off the truck. Don’t get in an accident. Don’t do all these things. So if I’m strapping, and I’m thinking, “Man, it’s really cool that Jesus was a carpenter for 30 years,” and I don’t remember to check the strap, have I set my mind on things above, and not on things on earth? Is that what he’s trying to say? Don’t focus on the things that God has given you? Of course not. If I haven’t hit this point hard enough: Jesus was a craftsman. And he wasn’t sitting there building the table, or whatever he was doing with his dad, thinking about, “Oh, and then the beauty of the spheres, and the mathematics of how I built the galaxy.” No, he was learning. He was submitting himself to the discipline of creating something, of putting something in order.

So when we talk about this, and it says, “Set your mind on things that are above,” it means think about things that are true, good, and beautiful. And you know what is good? A well-strapped truck. Let me tell you, that is a good thing. You know, it’s sometimes even beautiful, when you have a truckload of boxes, and they’re this way and that way, and you put that black net over it and you strap it all down. You take a look back, and you’re like, “Wow, order has come where chaos once reigned.” You know, it really is something, though, when you see these job sites go from digging in the ground, to this foundation, to studs, and then they become these buildings. It’s like we’re participating with God in creation. Maybe somebody out there is like, “This is so boring. What are you talking about? I don’t care about buildings.” You should care. God cares about the things we do. And when you submit it to him, he’s able to elevate your work to something that is holy and good.

IV. You Have Been Raised with Christ 09:16

Because, in fact, you have been raised with Christ. We all know that in our baptism we were buried in death with Christ and raised to a new life. In fact, I think one of the enemy’s chief ways of deceiving us is to convince us that we are not, in fact, a new creation; that we’re the same old person that we’ve always been; that we carry the sin and condemnation that Jesus crucified on the cross. If you’re feeling shame and condemnation today, I have good news: it doesn’t belong to you. It’s not yours. Jesus took it all from you, and he made you new. You are a spotless creation in Christ. It’s one of the most difficult things to learn. But guess what? You’ve got your whole life and the rest of eternity to learn it. He will never stop teaching you that he has made you good.

This is the center of the gospel. You might hear people talk about the gospel as though God paid a fine that you owed: you were late on your credit card bill, and he paid the fine of your sins, and now your debt is free. It’s like, no, that’s not the gospel. The gospel is: God brought you into his life and has made you new, and now we live… “It’s not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Every part of our life is now transformed, because he has raised us into life with him. Now we live in the flesh by faith in the Son of God. Paul writes, when he says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2.20). He means that actually what we’re doing is different than what you thought we were doing. You might think you’re getting up and you’re trying really hard to look like Jesus, or you’re trying really hard to do your duty, or you’re trying really hard to just become all that you can be. Instead of that, you already are in Christ. You have everything in him. But, like Jesus’ life on earth, we have to walk it out day by day.

V. The River of Christ's Life 11:25

So that’s why he reminds us to seek the things that are above, where Christ is. Think about this. It’s as though we have entered into the river of Christ’s life. And the river is flowing towards our remaking, our renewal. It’s already been purchased. It’s already been accomplished. But he’s also bringing us somewhere, from glory to glory (2 Cor 3.18). He’s changing us. We’re in this river. And yet oftentimes we get so caught up with our anxious cares. We take on those things that belong to the old man, and we fight the current of Jesus’… We’re in the river. All we’ve got to do is repent. All we’ve got to do is turn, and he will bring us to those places.

It’s like, before Christ, you were in a river that was leading you to death and destruction. But now, in Christ, it’s flowing the other way. Now everything has changed. For in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17.28). When you’re in a river and the current is flowing, let me tell you, you are going where the river is taking you. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a river, but it is hard to stay in your spot. Jesus is taking us on this journey. The question is, are we participating? Because we’re already in him. We’re already completely in him.

VI. Your Life Is Hidden with Christ 12:52

Paul continues this line of thought in verse 3:

3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Col 3.3–4

A lot of us are walking around like we are completely unaware of the reality of our changed life. We’ve put on the old man like a cloak, instead of Jesus. We’ve put on our anxieties, our fears, our desires outside of him. We’ve borne the burden, and it’s just not yours. Lay it all down. He has already borne it, and you can just walk in him. I know it doesn’t feel this way. And in fact, when it says your life is hidden with Christ in God, it’s the hiddenness that gets us. It’s hard for us to see sometimes. It’s harder for us to feel that way. “I feel like I’m impatient. I feel like I’m angry.” And yet the promise is, I’m actually in Christ, and he is not impatient. He is not angry. And I have access to his peace, even if my heart is anxious. Does that make sense?

And sometimes you hear these things and you’re like, “Okay, fine. Are we playing the Will Smith manifestation game? If I say it and believe it hard enough, then it will be real?” That is not what we’re doing. We’re saying, whether you believe it or not, it is real. The invitation is to enter in, and it’s relational. How does it work out in your life? Well, guess what? You talk to Jesus. You get encouraged by your brother, who also has that same Spirit. You come to church and you submit yourself. You worship. You eat at the table, and you are transformed. It’s not a matter of whether it’s true or not. It’s a matter of realization in your life. That’s why we’re being renewed, transformed, so that we can more fully match the reality that Jesus already bought for us on the cross. That’s why he says, “The truth shall set you free” (John 8.32). Because when you realize the truth, that you’re in him, what have you got to do? You’re already in him. We have to walk it out every day.

But we’re like an elephant. You know the great analogy, where the elephant’s tied to a tree as a small elephant, and so the tree doesn’t move. But over time, they don’t tie them to a tree anymore. They just put a little stake in the ground, this big. I’ve seen an elephant stake. They’re like this big. They put it in the ground, they wrap it around, and then they’ve got a 4,000-pound elephant with one leg tied to a stake in the ground. But he’s pretty sure he’s a captive. He’s pretty sure he can’t move, because he learned that behavior. Just like us: we’re pretty sure that we’re fallen and broken and enslaved to sin, even though we know that Jesus has set us free. It’s not just a mental game. It’s actually embodied in our soul and our spirit, in our body. We embody these patterns of sin that don’t belong to us anymore. But God is working that out. The Spirit in you is working it out.

If you imagine these different scenarios, how does this play out? Well, guess what? If you’re facing a problem that you can’t solve, you also have the mind of Jesus (1 Cor 2.16), and he’s already solved all our problems. He knows what you need even before you ask (Matt 6.8).

Now, think about this. I think sometimes we can just get so complacent, because our life is pretty comfortable. This is a guy who’s in prison, being continuously beaten to the point where it is a miracle that he is still alive, and he’s in shackles, and he’s trying to share this good news, the gospel, that everything is different. And yet the people he’s sharing it with are being imprisoned, killed, stoned to death. He, even before he had his transformation, was a part of trying to destroy what God was doing in the Christian church. And he’s sitting there in his pain, and he’s writing this: “It’s okay. I’m in Christ, and you are in Christ.” And he’s encouraging others to live the way he has lived. That’s why he can later say, “I have learned to be content in all things, in lack and in plenty” (Phil 4.11–12), when I’m being beaten or when I am free. In all of the things, he has this reality: “I’m seated with Christ in heavenly places” (Ephes 2.6). The rubber meets the road when we face the various trials and tribulations of the world.

VII. Put to Death What Is Earthly 17:40

So what does he say to us? How are we supposed to live with this reality? In verse 5 he says:

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked… Col 3.5–7

Now, somebody in here is thinking, “Once walked? When did it become past tense?” When he took it to the cross. Not when you figured it out: when he took your sin. You don’t walk in those anymore. You might accidentally dabble, but it’s not who you are anymore. He already took it. You once walked. You were living in them. You don’t live in them. You live in him now.

8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Col 3.8–10

You are going to look like him. And if you have eyes to see, you already do. He is taking you from glory to glory. You’re already in glory; he’s just taking you to more glory. A lot of us don’t believe that. A lot of us think we’re the kid who got picked last on the dodgeball court: “Yes, we’re on the team, but nobody wants us there.” That is not true. Jesus chose you. He transformed you. He loves you. And you are already in him, seated in heavenly places. You are going from glory to glory. There is no condemnation today (Rom 8.1).

Okay. So why does he say “put to death” if you already died? Because he knows us. Paul is just like us. He knows. He calls himself the chief of sinners (1 Tim 1.15). Even though we’ve put on Christ, he says later, “The things I want to do, I don’t do. The things I don’t want to do, I do” (Rom 7.15). And all of us say, “Amen. That’s my experience.” And yet we still have this opportunity, by the power of the Holy Spirit, by Jesus, in whom we live and move and have our being, to put to death those things. He’s inviting us to go with him in the river. Stop fighting the current. It’s exhausting.

Okay. Paul also is the one who wrote, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2.12). He doesn’t think that this is going to be easy. He knows the difficulty of constantly taking up your cross and following Jesus. The promise is not that it will be easy. The promise is that it will be good. The promise is that when you let him, and you put to death that old man who tries to take control, who tries to be in charge, when you put him to death, you will have life, and life abundantly (John 10.10). That all the things you do, your work, that vanity, that is your work, will actually become a piece of the kingdom of God, which is eternal. I truly believe that the work we do has eternal ramifications when we give it to him. It’s only when we try to make it our foundation that it’s nothing. Because he created the entire universe, and we get to be a part of that. He’s inviting us to do what he did. We’re like him. We’re little Christs. We’re Christ… sorry, Christians, which means “little Christs.” We’re called to be like him.

Okay? So we’re putting to death… We’re not imitating God. We’re not pretending. We’re not imitating Christ. We are in Christ. We’re living his life. He’s living in us. And so we put to death the old ways: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. That first list: sexual desire, covetousness. That is when you try to find your fulfillment outside of him. When you try to live like the old man, and you try to find your fulfillment in sex, in passion, in false desires. So that means desire for money, power, control: all of that is you trying to replace Christ with your own ability to achieve, or to conquer, or to grasp. That’s what was wrong with Jesus’ man in his parable (Luke 12.16–21). He said, “Look at all this stuff I have.” He could never get enough. He had to make more: “I need to pile it up bigger.” And just like King Midas, or any of these stories… What’s the guy from DuckTales? You know, the uncle, Scrooge McDuck, who sits on his pile of gold money and is miserable. That’s what happens when you try to find your fulfillment outside of him. That’s why he says this is idolatry. Only God fits in that spot. Don’t let your work fit in that spot. Don’t let your desires fit in that spot. Don’t let your pleasure fit in that spot. It’s only Christ.

And then the next list (if you’re wondering how these lists are organized): anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk. That’s the fruit of putting something in God’s place. When you put something that’s not God in his place, you become angry, resentful, wrathful, malicious. You talk with obscenity. You know, you don’t even have to use curse words to have obscene talk. You can just say really dumb things, like, “I will save myself.” That is obscene and wrong. “I’m going to get myself out of this mess. I’m my own savior.” All of that stuff comes from putting anything except for Jesus at the center. It comes from trying to live your own life instead of his, or letting him live with you or through you. Those are kind of interchangeable ideas, that you’re living his life and he’s living through you. That’s the same thing.

VIII. Don't Emulate the Father of Lies 23:42

Okay. And then the last one: “Do not lie to one another.” Lying is declaring faith in the words of the enemy. It’s like how we sing worship songs, and we declare the truth, and it changes us to declare the truth. When you lie, you’re declaring the words of the enemy, because he’s the father of all lies (John 8.44). In fact, if you look at kids, what do they do? They learn to live out their parents’ life in some archetypal form. That’s how children learn. We’ve done brain studies. They aren’t learning by memorization; they’re actually learning by emulation. They don’t memorize the English language. They copy. They have a part of their brain (it’s called the mirror neurons and all these things), and it actually is copying exactly what they are seeing. And they copy their parents most of all, especially in those early stages where they’re first learning to walk. That’s why, if any of my kids walk funny, you can blame me. I know I have a bit of a gait to myself. But there’s this idea that they embody their fathers. Well, how do you embody Jesus? You speak truth. How do you embody the devil? You speak lies. Don’t emulate the father of lies.

Haley gets so mad at me sometimes. And she loves it; I’m bringing her up again. She has so much patience. But we’ll be in the middle of an argument, and she’ll say something, and I’ll just stop and be like, “That is a lie.” And she’s like, “What? You don’t get to just call your own shots over here. We have to talk this through.” And it’s like, “No, I can’t listen to you say that. It’s a lie.” And usually we figure it out. Usually she laughs at me, and we figure it out. But all of this is so important, because God is inviting you to something better than you’ve ever known. It just gets better. And if you’re like, “Man, I’ve known a lot of good with God,” it is not over. There is so much more.

IX. Christ Is All in All 25:32

And so he continues in verse 11. It says:

11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Col 3.11

How much is all? Is it a little bit? No, it’s all. He is all in all. How much of you do you get to hold on to and keep back? Nothing. He is all in all. Which is amazing, because even those things you think of as not him are still him. You can give him everything. You can invite him to be in everything.

It’s really this incredible process. And I was thinking about how you illustrate what’s going on. It’s like you find a rock… I don’t know if you’ve seen this, but I like these YouTube videos sometimes where they dig up these rocks, and they look terrible. Some of you in here look like this in the spirit. I’m not condemning anybody; I’m saying I look like that too. You look like this rock, and it’s covered in mud, and you can’t see anything in it. And then they take it and they wash it. Kind of like baptism: it’s washed in Jesus. It looks a whole lot better. But then what do they do? Then they throw it in a rock tumbler. And what is a rock tumbler? It’s where you put something that’s harder than the rock in with the rock, and you roll it around until everything that is not good is stripped away and the core is revealed.

And I argue today that that’s like the Christian walk. You get washed off, but then there’s a whole lot of you that he doesn’t need anything to do with, a whole lot of residue that he is working away. And he allows these hard things to come into your life and to shape you. And then at the end, you look at this rock, and you look at what it looked like before and after, and you go, “That can’t be the same rock.” That’s what God is doing in you. You already are made pure. You’ve been washed. But now he is shaping you. He is making you more like him. And what’s amazing about these rocks is that’s the rock that was there all the time. They don’t change the rock; they reveal it. And so in each one of us, God saves us and then reveals who we really are. It’s actually when we become more like Jesus that we actually become more like us. I become more Jesse when I become more like him. It’s a stripping back of that which is false. Everything that is false and broken and fallen, every pattern, everything that is dead, is stripped away, and I truly can be who God has made me to be. And by being so, I look more like him.

X. Put On Love 27:39

So we’re on this journey, and we’re doing all of this, and I’m going to end with the part we didn’t read today. And I’m just going to read this as a prayer, so you can follow along as we read this on the screens here. It says, “Put on then” (this is the encouragement to you as you leave this place):

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Col 3.12–14

And this is the best:

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Col 3.15–17

Amen.