Raised With Christ

Colossians 3:1-14

A New Life of Dying and Arising with Christ

A Christian who is born of the Spirit and who is saved by grace will not merely remain as a believer who confesses with his mouth and believes in his heart that Jesus is Lord, for this is just the entry point.

At this entry point of salvation, the blood of Christ covers the sins of the believer, and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to him. Believers shall be made righteous with God at this very moment and hence, we say that sinners are made righteous by their faith.

However, this passage in Colossians tells us that Christians who are born of the Spirit, and who are truly saved shall also die and be raised with Christ beginning from the entry point of faith in Christ. He has since then taken off his old self and put on his new self. He would naturally learn to think of heavenly things and perceive gaining Christ his surpassing worth.

At the same time, his life shall be renewed day by day and he will become more and more like Christ. From a believer of Christ, he will grow to become a disciple of Christ.

The New Life Shall Set His Heart and Mind on Things Above

Paul said in verses 1-4, that, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

This “death and resurrection of believers” is talking about the life transformation of a believer. The previous text in Colossians 2:12 mentions about the believers. “Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

Therefore, the life of a Christian is a life that dies with Christ and that is also raised with Him to a new life.

Paul alluded to this new life of risen with Christ, to remind the Colossian believers because they were taken captive by a hollow and deceptive philosophy (Col 2:8), and they were judging one another by what they ate or drank, or with regard to a religious festival (Col 2:16). 

They even confused believers with all kinds of commandments and doctrines (Col 2:20-23). Paul argued that they had been disconnected from Christ, and they were only puffed up by their own flesh (Col 2:18-19).

Paul wished that the Colossian believers would come to know clearly that they were dead and had been raised with Christ. If they had already died with Christ, they should have nothing to do with those worldly instructions (Col 2:20).

If they had been raised with Christ, they would have to set their hearts and minds on things above. They ought to pursue, look upon and follow Christ, who is seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly realm (Col 3:1).

After we have come to know the Lord and become new creations, we died and are raised spiritually with Christ. As new creations, we have now broken away from secular teachings and are to set our hearts and minds to follow God solely. Worldly perspectives and secular worldviews shall bind us no more.

Though we are still living on earth and showing our concerns towards people around us and caring for our society, we possess a heavenly perspective, which means we are able to see things with the perspective of God while we are living on earth.

Paul said in Philippians 3:18-21, “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

NT Wright explained the above interestingly, “Jesus’ resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about – Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

In this respect, we shall have wisdom to arrange our life priority. We are able to pay attention to those gifts that are given by God and to make good use of our lives to serve His eternal purposes.

In conclusion, “set your hearts and minds on things above” means that we will actively prioritize the Kingdom agenda in our daily living; and focus on things of eternal value rather than things that are temporal.

There is another reason why we need to “set our hearts and minds on things above, not on earthy things,” and that is because “our life is now hidden with Christ in God, and we also will appear with him in glory in times to come” (vv3-4)

The life of a Christian in Christ is glorious and victorious, but it is hidden now and invisible to the world. Hence, people will mock at Christians. They will oppress them and use all means to oppose them when they keep to their biblical teachings.

Nevertheless, the truth and its end are: Christians shall appear with Christ in His glory when He returns in future. This is our hope! Therefore, we have to set our hearts and minds on things above. Christ is seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly realm and He is the resurrected Lord who triumphs.

We might go through hardships in the world, but all these shall pass away when the world comes to its end. We shall appear with Christ in His glory when He reveals Himself and when He judges righteously over the whole earth.

When we set our hearts and minds on things above, we know that we have hope of eternity, and we have the ultimate protection of God. We will follow Christ steadfastly despite our encounter with challenges or difficulties on earth.

I have noted that many Christians are prone to feel that they are weak spiritually. They find it hard to follow the Lord and they feel wounded within. Why is it so?

Maybe they have been setting their hearts and minds on earthly things, like “wealth, position, power, reputation, or honor and shame issues, etc.” They are troubled by things on earth.

They just cannot focus on following and trusting the Lord. Consequently, it is impossible for them to be joyful and courageous, and much less to be the salt and light for Him!

The Lord Jesus has given us this promise, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:31-33)

Let’s surrender all our earthly thoughts and worries to the Lord and trust that He shall provide for us and protect us. Let’s set our hearts and minds on things above. Let’s appreciate the Kingdom’s ministry which has eternal values and let’s be part of it. Then we will be able to understand God’s heart and cooperate with Him, living daily on earth victoriously with hope and joy found within us.

The New Creation is Imitator of Christ

In verses 9-10, Paul uses actions of “taking off and putting on” to elaborate our lives that have died and arisen with Christ.

“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

When we die with Christ, we take off our old self. When we arise with Christ, we put on our new self. Paul had used two words, “therefore” and “since”, to remind us of this fact.

We have taken off our old self. “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (v5)

We need to keep watch daily to eliminate all these evil desires, and to live for the Lord by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit. Whenever we are enticed by our evil thoughts to sin against God, we have to keep in mind that one day we have to stand before Him and we will be judged by Him, and this might help us change our mind.

We have put on the new self. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (v12-14)

Our life is connected with Christ after our conversion. The nature of our life is different from what we used to have. This change in our life brings about transformation of our character and behaviors. These changes are external and they are visible.

The words “take off” and “put on” in the scripture have to do with acts of taking off and putting on our clothes. These are changes expressed externally.

Paul mentioned two characteristics when he talked about the old self, i.e., the nature of old self is earthly (v5), and because of this, God’s wrath is coming (v6). All these nature and behaviors he talked about included sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language and lies.

However, we are no longer the old self. We have become a new creation. We have to make discernment as a new creation. Any earthly nature or any action that stirs the wrath of God belongs to our old self, and we should rid ourselves from it so as to take them off. 

We have to put on our heavenly nature and to clothe ourselves with actions that please God. We have to be serious and to get rid of any of our earthly nature whenever the Bible informs us that certain things are considered evil and are not pleasing to God.

We have to be equally serious to put on our heavenly nature that pleases God whenever the Bible reveals to us any things that are commendable. As disciples of Christ, we have to keep our lives refreshed continuously, so that by the renewal of our minds, we will become more and more like Christ.

Paul says this in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Conclusion:

Every Christian should receive continual instructions from the Word of God and get to know Jesus and His work more and more in order to be more and more like Him. It is a life-long growth journey and it requires a continuous study and our obedience to the Lord.

There is a need to practice our faith through works of piety and works of mercy, in order to grow in Christ; and a need to constantly reflect upon His will and all such practices call for our endurance and concentration (i.e. spiritual discipline).

Now, let’s take times to do some self-reflections: How long have I come to know the Lord? Am I just a believer only? Or am I a disciple of the Lord?

May the Lord grant us mercy and may His Spirit reveal to us, so that we will truly come to know the reality and necessity of being a growing Christian, and our minds and our hearts will pursue and think of heavenly things.

May the Lord show His mercy and grant us His Spirit to help us, to empower us and to direct us to live for God, and to enable our walk with Him to be worthy of His calling.

May our lifestyle of discipleship reveal Christ’s compassion and forgiveness, that we shall be guarded by and connected with the principles of His love. By doing so, we are able to reveal the glorious image of the Lord, and the world may see His glory and turn to Him.