I don’t mean to be morbid here, but think back to the last time you were at an open coffin wake. As you looked at the body of your deceased friend or loved one, one thing you could be certain of is that, regardless of whether they were in heaven or not, they had no more concerns about anything in this life. They did not care whether the stock market rose or fell. They did not care about the price of gasoline or groceries, nor whether the repairs on the house got taken care of or not. The things of this world no longer hold any interest to people who are dead. That is the message we have from today’s Scripture in Colossians, though with a little twist.
Our brief Scripture today comes from the middle of St. Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, a city in southwest ancient Turkey. As in all of his epistles, Paul’s audience were assumed to be primarily believers, those who had already put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus as their Savior. As our passage begins the phrase “If then” would be better translated as “since”. (vs. 1). Paul leaves no doubt that what he said was Biblical truth, not an “if” but a “since”. What he said was certain. Because of our union with Jesus Christ we spiritually entered into His death and resurrection the moment we were saved, and are now alive in Him. When Jesus was crucified, our sinful old nature was crucified and buried with Him. When He rose from the dead on the third day, our new nature also rose again.
Paul continues on to remind the believers that their old nature is dead, and their new nature is alive and a part of Christ (vs. 3). The penalty for our sins was paid, and we arose with Jesus to a new life. Because of this, the apostle urges us to set our hearts on things that are above, in other words, putting heaven’s priorities into our daily practice (vs. 2). This means concentrating on the eternal rather than the temporal. Just as those lying in the coffin don’t care about the latest headlines in the news, we should not be preoccupied with things to do with the world. Instead, we should look at life from God’s perspective and seek what He desires. Our whole disposition and way of thinking should point itself towards the things of heaven. The dead do not care about all of their belongings any more either, so we, if we are believers and thus raised with Christ, should not become too attached to physical belongings which are only temporary.
Now that we are raised with the Lord Jesus, our life is deposited with Him (vs 3). The world, our spiritual enemies, and Satan will try to attack us, but our life is concealed and safe with Him. Our life now belongs to the spiritual and heavenly realm, so we should be seeking matters and interests pertaining to heaven, and not to earth. Since our real home is with the Lord in heaven, the things of this world should not hold such a great desire for us.
When we accept Jesus as our Savior, our old, earthly nature is dead. As we let Him live within us, so that He can shape us into what we should be, we change our moral and ethical behavior. Jesus gives us the power to live for Him now, and He gives us hope for the future (vs. 4). We can live in great anticipation of His return. We can fix our hope firmly on Jesus’ promise that we will live together with Him in glory forever.
The resurrection of Jesus was not just something that happened 2,000 years in the past. It affects all believers today, as well. Believers are already raised to a new life. We can claim the power of the risen Savior every day.
Are you living as if Jesus had not risen from the dead? Do you go through life without joy or peace? We don’t have to live that way, because those who are Christians have also been raised with Him to new life!
No comments:
Post a Comment