SEEKING BETTER THINGS
#045 SEEKING BETTER THINGS
Scripture Colossians 3:1-4 NIV Orig. 4-14-63
Rewr. 1-6-74/4-8-79
Passage: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Purpose: To speak to my people on the occasion of Easter celebration to call to their minds the need to lift our horizons in the Lord Jesus, and commitment to Him.
Keywords: New Birth Easter Resurrection Christian Living
Introduction
A BAG OF TOOLS
Isn’t it strange that princes and kings,
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
And common people like you and me
Are builders for eternity?
Each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass, a book of rules:
And each must make—before life is gone—
A stumbling block or a steppingstone.
--R.L. Sharpe--
We do not have to look very far to discover people who have committed themselves absolutely to their life priorities. Jane Goodall is an English primatologist and anthropologist, considered the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees. Mary Leakey, paleontologist and contributor to National Geographic, was committed to the task of discovering man’s beginnings. Ralph Nader was a consumer who made news about the dangers of the Corvair and Pinto; a young college student had died. Nuclear scientists are convinced that one of man’s energy sources is in their field, and they are committed to efficient and safe nuclear power plants; it is too late to turn back because there are already 500 of these plants in the world, either in operation, or in some stage of planning or construction.
We Christians must come to terms with the need for commitment to our Lord, and to His church, in order that we might be known as people whose energy resources and reserves are given over unconditionally to our Lord to bring glory to His name.
Seeking better things is as immanent in the spiritual world as in the material world.
I. The Natural Beginning Place for Any Improvement is to Accept the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 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.“
Apparently, most of us are looking for some good out of life. For Adam, it was a rather arrogant goal, to be like God, all wise and eternal. For Job, it was for an answer to a philosophical question, albeit a very important one (Job 14:14) “If a man die, shall he live again?”
Thomas, who walked part of life’s trail with Jesus, was one who could not settle for faith, He had to have fact. “I will believe that He is alive, only under the circumstances of touching the nail holes, and feeling the torn flesh on His side.”
But regrettably, the goal for most of us is not changed from that day long ago in Babel (Genesis 11:4), “Let us build us a city and a tower. . . , whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name.”
We are compelled here as Christians to remember that life has a higher, nobler goal. It begins with the certitude that Christ is alive. Luke 24:3 “And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.” Acts 4:33 “And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all.”
It takes on its deepest meaning when we discover through faith that we are alive with Christ. A.A. Ketchum wrote the hymn on p. 429 in our hymnal, Why Do I Sing About Jesus?
Deep in my heart there’s a gladness; Jesus has saved me from sin!
Praise to His name, what a Saviour! Cleansing without and within!
Why do I sing about Jesus? Why is He precious to me?
He is my Lord and my Saviour; Dying, He set me free!
Paul is not here appealing for a sham other worldliness where we only contemplate eternity. He is clearly acknowledging that for the Christian, his new standard of value will be God’s standard of value: Giving more than getting; serving more than ruling; forgiving more than avenging.
Vance Havner, the contemporary Baptist evangelist, gives practical advice to all of us: “I would say to today’s young minister, ‘Be not afraid to give much time to solitary walks and meditation. You can well afford to dispense with many other activities some may think indispensable. You will be returning to a way of life almost forgotten now, and you may be eyed askance by all runners in the Great Rat Race. But your chance may come one day to speak your piece on some strategic occasion, when weary humanity has reached saturation and boredom listening to everything else. On that day, your quiet walks and lonely vigils will pay off. If that chance never comes, they will have paid off anyway.’”
II. Then, Let this Seeking Continue in the Positive Thrust of Christ-Like Living. V3:2-3 “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.” The Gnostics believed in hidden wisdom. The meaning here is obvious. The believer does not automatically lose worldly desire. One never loses the potential to sin.
Something else did happen, and still does. Their lives are wrapped up in Christ. The Greeks commonly spoke of a dead relative as being hidden in the earth. The believer dies a spiritual death in baptism, and is hidden in Christ. Baptism literally engulfed the early believers in the Lord. It should be so with us.
There is another reason why the believer should be so wrapped up in the Lord. Satan rarely, if ever, gives up on bringing disruptive influences to bear in our lives.
Paganini, the great violinist, was in the middle of an important concert when one of the strings on his violin snapped. He continued to play as if nothing had happened. Then, a second broke! He played yet on without hesitation. Then, unbelievably, a third gave way with a sharp crack! For a brief moment, he paused. The audience assumed he would quit. But he calmly raised his famous Stradivarius with one hand and announced, “One string . . . and Paganini!”
With a tremendous, furious skill and matchless discipline, he finished the selection on a single string. The audience arose and gave him a thunderous ovation.
There are times in our lives when things go wrong. Strings one after the other seem to snap. It becomes increasingly easier to quit. But when we are wrapped up in Jesus, going on is the thing to do. Nothing pleases the prince of darkness more than for the children of the Father to forget who we are and WHOSE we are. Nothing robs him of power and pleasure in our lives like trusting the Lord the more in difficult times than in good times.
You see, the Christian life has a final goal of Christlikeness. The Christian’s life is never more than when it is in the process of becoming.
There is the new consumer advocacy. There is genetic engineering. For the believer, there is that priority that establishes the Lordship of Christ, and my only solution to the sin problem in my life is through Him.
CLOSING
The three Hebrew children, young men actually, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were threatened with death if they did not accede to the demands of the Babylonians. They were to worship like Babylonians and act like Babylonians. “If it be so that our God is able to deliver us, well; but if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve thy gods or worship them” (Daniel 3).
When Paul arrived at Miletus, he sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus (Acts 20:17). He reminded them of the two essentials of the kingdom: repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus. He, Paul, was not going to be around to help them, but this was the essential message that they were to bear to the people of their city.
Repentance and faith. They still are the elemental functions of belief: Repentance—clearly, we are sinners, and only repentance toward God will ever change that; and Faith—faith that Christ died on a cross as the enabler of repentance and forgiveness, and the better, fuller life that is in Him.