Pastor's Corner

The Christian life is a new beginning. Old things are passed away and we are new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). The apostle Paul teaches us how to put on the new self or life in Colossians chapter three. In chapter 3 Paul shows how the resurrection of Christ relates to the believer. Our future is dependent upon the resurrection of Christ so we are to relinquish our pre-salvation thoughts, speech, and behavior in order to live the post-resurrection life Christ has for us. Jesus liberated us from legalism so Colossians 3:1-17 teaches us our responsibility to live up to our privilege.

In Colossians 3:1 -“Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”

First, note the phrase, “if you have been raised up”. In the New Testament Greek this is a first class condition which means it is an assumed fact that you have been raised up with Christ through your salvation. This began with your baptism of the Holy Spirit (Colossians 2:12) and put you into an eternal relationship with Christ. This eternal union makes it possible for the believer to die to worldly thinking and live the divine view of life. Worldliness is the humanistic viewpoint attitude whereby man puts his faith in himself to solve problems rather than relying upon God. It is thinking the way Satan wants you to think, (Romans 12:2; Colossians 3:2). God says to reject it!

As Christians, we soon learn that God sees things differently than we do (Isaiah 55:7-9). He sees things from our eternal union with Christ for we are both dead (Colossians 2:20), buried (2:12) and raised in Christ. He expects us to see what He has done in Christ with the eye of faith rather than with our feelings. We cannot taste, feel, see or smell our union with Christ. God says it is true and our faith teaches us that it is eternal, unalterable, infallible, and exalted. God wants us to lay hold of our privilege by faith.

This means that we cannot live the Christian life by rules that strive to improve the flesh by denying it, restricting it, trying to keep it in check.

They always fail.

We are not to live by religious regulations because they lead us away from Christ into legalism.

Paul teaches the true conquest of sin is not asceticism rather it is realizing our position in Christ and living our lives for Christ alone.

How do we do this? Paul tells us in the next phrase, “keep seeking the things above” which is a command to keep seeking God’s blessings by learning and applying His Word to our lives.

Our greatest blessing in life is to receive His wisdom and guidance.

The greatest blessing in eternity is to receive the rewards He has stored up for us.

Therefore, we are to keep searching, keep on investigating, keep on examining, keep on desiring to possess Biblical truth and live for Christ. We must remember that Christians can no longer think like the non-believer. Non-believers are earth-bound, secular minded and materialistic. They operate in a world of taste, see and feel. They spend all their time trying to keep body and soul together. That is their life and they do not know there is more to life than that.

On the other hand, the Christ has a new life in Christ (Colossians 3:4). There is far more to his life for he has purpose and meaning in God’s plan. Christianity is more than just merely getting by or a mere existence. When Christians accept God’s view of life then they center their lives on Christ and their life takes on a purpose, a life worth living.

In the next phrase note where our focus should be; “where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God”. Since Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, so are we since we are in union with Him. He has the place of privilege, rank, position, and honor. So do we. Because of this our focus should be on Him and our eternal privileges rather than what the world system can offer us. If we study and apply His truth and conform to Christ then we reject the legalistic rules of the world crowd and the “come out and play crowd”.

Colossians 3:1 is the beginning of a wonderful journey through the mind of God and His grace expectations for us. The whole verse says,

“If therefore you have been raised in the Christ, keep on desiring to possess and endeavoring to obtain the above things , where the Christ is sitting on the right hand side of the God.”

Read the rest of the chapter and rest in His grace provision.

Chaplain Ron McMurray