Passage: Colossians 3:1
The Big Idea
If you’ve trusted Jesus, you were raised with Him. So now you seek the things above, where Christ is seated at God’s right hand. Grace isn’t passive. We actively pursue our heavenly relationship with God through Jesus, by humility and faith, drawing on the limitless resources of our union with Him.
Alive from the Dead
Have you ever wondered where to find resurrection life? What does that even mean?
Jesus is in the business of bringing life to what was dead. That’s what He does with every believer. If we trust in Him, God has spiritually raised us from the dead.
So what does a newly alive person do?
The Shape of Colossians
Colossians divides into two sections:
- Chapters 1-2, the doctrine: you’ve been raised with Jesus.
- Chapters 3-4, the duty: living in, by and through the resurrection power of Jesus.
Chapter 3 comes right after chapter 2 (I know, deep stuff), where Paul warned us about three pitfalls to spiritual life:
- Legalism: living by rules to impress God or others.
- Weird spirituality: chasing an experience to find spiritual life.
- Humanistic self-denial: denying yourself to make yourself holier.
Now Paul shows us the true way to live a spiritual life.
The Text (Colossians 3:1)
If then you were raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
An outline:
- The reminder: if then you were raised with Christ.
- The responsibility: seek the things that are above.
- The resource: where Christ is, seated at God’s right hand.
The Reminder: “If Then You Were Raised”
Paul reminds us of what he just told us in the last chapter, in case we forgot already: we were dead in our sins, but God made us alive together with Christ, forgave all our sins, and nailed the record against us to the cross (Colossians 2:12-14). That’s the gospel. The true life.
He was raised. You were raised. That means there’s a union between Jesus and His people, such that:
- By His death on the cross, we became dead to sin.
- By His resurrection, we were given new life.
What happened to Him happened to us.
Now what? Since Jesus is in heaven, our life is really and truly in heaven too.
The Responsibility: “Seek Those Things Above”
The word seek here is a present-tense command: keep on seeking. Don’t just sit there! Seek. Dig. Knock. Ask.
Seek what? Do my best? Do more stuff? No. Pursue a heavenly relationship with God through Jesus.
Is grace passive? Since Jesus provides everything we need, do I just sit here like a bump on a log?
No, no, no. Grace is the most active thing in the world, and out of this world. We actively seek and receive grace from heaven.
But how?
Look at the address: above. Heaven. The spiritual realm. We were created to have a spiritual relationship with God, connected to Him and receiving help from above.
This union with Jesus is based on grace. And we connect with Him through:
- Humility: God gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
- Faith: we access this grace by faith (Romans 5:2).
The Resource: “Where Christ Is, Seated at the Right Hand of God”
Jesus is in heaven. And if He’s there, our everything is there, since He is our everything: our life, our hope, our love, our strength.
What’s He doing up there? Stressing? Struggling?
No. He’s sitting. His work is finished (Hebrews 10:12). He’s at rest at the Father’s right hand. (Probably enjoying some bacon too.)
Wouldn’t life be different if we were sitting at God’s right hand, able to ask for anything, with no fear, no worry, no stress, totally at peace?
Oh wait. We are. Since we were raised with Jesus, our life is joined with His. We’re seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).
So seek Him. Not like a game of hide-and-seek. Dive into your relationship with Him. He’s given you a perfect union with Himself, so enjoy it!
Don’t seek anything else. He’s the only source of spiritual life. Seek what’s above.
Charles Spurgeon put it this way: your Lord has gone up to heaven, and you profess that He represents you there and that you have gone up in Him. So don’t seek the things of earth. Live where your life has gone. Where your treasure is, let your heart be.
- Does your heart know where its life is found?
- Does your heart attach itself to things on earth way too easily?
The solution is to believe Him and seek Him. Believe that He raised you with Christ and that your life is hidden with Him (Colossians 3:3). Our goal is to live out this heavenly relationship more and more every day.
Seeking God isn’t just about reading the Bible more or praying more. Both are good and helpful. But am I seeking God in order to lean on Him? To trust Him? To simply be the object of His love, the person He delights to help and pour grace on?
Be a child of God. Be what you already are.
Weak Enough to Lean
Missionary Hudson Taylor wrote that all of God’s giants have been weak people who did great things for God because they counted on Him being with them. God uses people who are weak and feeble enough to lean on Him.
Humility and faith.
Our union with Jesus is the key to everything: limitless resources supplied by limitless love. That’s the resurrection life we share with Jesus.
Grace Takeaway
You were raised with Christ, and your life is now with Him at the Father’s right hand. So keep seeking the things above. Lean your weakness on Him, trust Him, and draw freely from the limitless supply of His resurrection life.