COLOSSIANS 3:1-7 - FOCUS! PAY ATTENTION!

COLOSSIANS 3:1-7

FOCUS! PAY ATTENTION!

Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

“If” should be translated “Since.” When we surrendered our lives to Jesus, we died to ourselves and were resurrected in Him. His death and resurrection became ours. Since we have arisen to new life, our desire for earthly things should be no more. Our desires are transformed toward the things of God and Heaven. There is no such thing as “being so heavenly minded you are no earthly good.” When we are focused on the will of God, on the things of Heaven, we are more effective witnesses for Christ on earth. As long as we live in this earth-suit, there will be struggles with earthly things; but when we are focused on Jesus and submitted to His will, He enables us to overcome these and live victoriously as His ambassadors. Our Commander in Chief’s battle position is sitting on the throne at the right-hand of God as chief intercessor and advocate for His sons and daughters, those who have trusted in Him. As long as we are taking orders from the Head of this army, this body of believers, we will live victoriously. The right-hand is the seat of power and authority. Jesus is Lord of all, and we have access to Him through prayer at all times!

Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Aim your affections in a Godly direction. We need to focus our thoughts on Jesus and not on the cares of this world.  That does not mean to be irresponsible about our finances or the needs of our family or friends. However, we need to trust Jesus in all things and expend our energies in serving Him. The only treasure we can take with us to Heaven are those who come with us by our witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus.

***Randy Alcorn book on Heaven

Matthew 6:20-21 (NKJV) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Colossians 1:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

We were dead IN sin, but Jesus made us alive in Him. Now we are dead TO sin and safe in the bosom of Jesus. I love the old song lyric, “He hideth my soul in the cleft of the Rock.” God hid Moses in a crevice in the rock before He passed by so that He would not die from seeing God’s glory.

Exodus 33:22 (KJV) And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:

We are hidden in Christ who is our Rock. I wonder if Moses was truly hidden in Jesus? Something to think about. At any rate, we are hidden, sheltered, protected in Christ. We are eternally secure: we cannot lose our salvation.

Colossians 1:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Apart from Jesus, we were dead people walking. He IS our life, our source. At the moment Christ appears at His second coming, He will receive all believers to be home with Him, in the place He has made ready and beautiful for His bride, the church, the Messianic community.

Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Big word alert! We will let Mr. Webster help us:

Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language:

CONCUPISCENCE, noun [Latin , to covet or lust after, to desire or covet.] Lust; unlawful or irregular desire of sexual pleasure. In a more general sense, the coveting of carnal things, or an irregular appetite for worldly good; inclination for unlawful enjoyments.

We know even secret concupiscence to be sin.

Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence Romans 7:8.

We must put sinful thoughts far away from us. When your mind drifts toward those thoughts, you need to hit the reject or eject button. Jesus died to pay the price for those sins, not so we could continue wallowing in them, but to free us from them. However, this does take effort on our part to get our thoughts back on the Lord when our minds try to derail our train of thought.

Isaiah 26:3 (AMP) “You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both inclination and character], Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation].

Colossians 1:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

God’s response toward sin never changes. He is consistent in His hatred and judgement of sin. Paul points out that the Colossians lived in a sinful manner before their conversion as we all did. Anything that satisfies self, declares we have a right to ourselves, at the expense of our worship of God is sin. Since Paul was writing to believers, the church at Colossae we know they had trusted Jesus to cleanse them from sin.

Ponder This: Like the Colossians, we were once dead in our sin but are now made alive in Christ. However, we continually need to monitor our thought lives to keep our minds fixed on Him. What can help us to do this? Time spent studying and internalizing the word of God and praying.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NASB) We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,