Colossians 3:1-11 Sermon

Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS) 

“Finding Your Fulfillment in Christ” Series: Closing with Christ

Colossians 3:1-11

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 life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (NIV)

The relay team had practiced tirelessly until every stride and each exchange had become second nature.  When the day of the race came, each runner felt very well prepared and confident.  As many had expected, once the starter pistol sounded and the sprinters exploded out of their blocks, their first runner excelled to a quick lead.  With each exchange of the baton, they stretched the lead out even more.  It was clear they had trained very well, and their relay team was in a class by itself.  Hardly a spectator was shocked to see them set a new track record when the last member of the relay team crossed the finish line long before anyone else.

Yet nearly every spectator was shocked when, just as quickly, the announcement came over the loudspeaker that the team had been disqualified.  Though barely even noticeable to the human eye, one of the exchanges between runners had taken place just outside of the designated exchange zone.  Just like that it was as if all their preparation and hard work was in vain.  The toil and the sweat were now replaced with tears of frustration.  They had come so close, only to be disqualified by the slightest of margins.

For three weeks we’ve been focusing on Finding Your Fulfillment in Christ.  In his letter to the Colossians, Paul has shown us that fulfillment comes in Celebrating Christ, Communicating Christ, and Continuing in Christ.  Yet even if we manage to find fulfillment in those things during our time of grace that is our life here on earth, and end up being disqualified when it matters most – at the finish line – then we’ve missed the point.  Finding Your Fulfillment in Christ is a vain effort if only for this life.  If that fulfillment doesn’t carry on into eternity, then it has, quite frankly, been a waste of time.  For that reason, as we wrap up this series this morning, we pray that the Lord would guide us to see how important it is for us to Close with Christ.

Now that isn’t to say that Celebrating, Communicating, and Continuing in Christ are unimportant – hardly – but the end goal of Closing with Christ does help us better understand their role.  Celebrating, Communicating, and Continuing in Christ are important because they help us follow through with Paul’s encouragement: “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” (v.1,2).  The past three Sundays have really been about helping keep the focus in our lives where it should be – on Christ.  Such a focus will naturally keep our hearts set on things above, for that is where Christ is seated, ready and waiting for each of us to cross the finish line and join him in heaven. 

Paul doesn’t shy away from reminding the Colossians why setting their hearts on things above is a priority in the life of the Christian – it’s because the Christian has been “raised with Christ.”  Early and often in his letter to the Colossians, Paul held before them the cross and the Christ who was crucified on it.  Why?  Not because Paul has some morbid fixation with death, but because without that death, there is no life.  If the penalty for sin had not been paid with the price of the holy, precious blood of Jesus Christ, then there is no room for any discussion of life to follow.

But the very point Paul has been emphasizing in his letter is that the price has been paid.  The death sentence has been served, and life is now granted through faith in the one who served that sentence.  To cement that reality in the hearts and minds of believers, Paul reminded the Colossians of God’s gift of baptism, by which they were buried with Christ and raised to life, just as the Father raised his Son from the dead (cf. 2:12).  Those who have been raised to life have had their eyes opened to see the big picture, which includes life eternal with Christ, who is seated in heaven.  Because that’s all been done for you, Paul says, the believer now lives this life with an eye toward the next one, heeding Paul’s encouragement to “set your hearts on things above.” 

Consider the hiker lost in the woods.  Suddenly off in the distance, over the heights of the trees, he recognizes some landmark, which, if he can make it to that point, will lead him to a safe return.  How does he arrive at that landmark?  Not by picking a stump or a stone just a few steps ahead of him, walking toward it, and then repeating that process all over until he gets to the landmark – that will only lead him to zigzag every which way and possibly have him turning around in circles at some point.  No, he notes the landmark far off in the distance, picks a destination right in line with it, and walks toward it, not straying to the left or right along the way.  In so doing, eventually he will close in on the landmark and arrive safely.  To set your hearts on things above is to establish that landmark off in the distance and walk toward it, not being led astray or off course by the distractions of this world.

And listen to what awaits you when you arrive!  Paul described it like this: “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” (v.3,4).  What awaits us is glory, and not the fast-fleeting glory of this world which is received from men and is based on achievements and accomplishments, but a glory that is ours in and through Christ, our identity.  We do well to remember that our lives are not here and now, but our lives are inseparable from Christ, who is our life.  He is our identity.  Our lives, now hidden with Christ and truly unknown until at home in heaven, will be far superior to any life lived by those whose focus was “on earthly things.”  We are not wandering around aimlessly, as if our whole lives were an identity crisis, or as if we were stricken with amnesia and trying to recall who we are.  We know our lives are with Christ, and as such, our focus is also on Christ and things above.

That means we can heed Paul’s encouragement to “put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature” (v.5).  Whatever is earthly then, has no place in the life of the Christian, because that is no longer our identity.  “Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, … idolatry (v.5) – to give in to such things is to bend to the will of a corpse; it’s forgetting that the earthly, the sinful nature has already been put to death.  Just as we wouldn’t continue feeding a dead body, why would we feed the passions and desires of that which has been put death as if trying to resuscitate it?  No, give those sins and the others listed here the death sentence and be done with them.  God’s wrath is already coming because of such things (v.6), and if God’s wrath has already been suffered on our behalf by Jesus Christ, why would we run the risk of putting our eternity in jeopardy and suffering that wrath again because we got trapped up in sin?  Instead, “rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other…” (8,9a).  Why?  Because “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” (v.9b,10).  No, don’t allow such filth to tarnish the unblemished image of the Creator that is gradually being shaped and formed in you.

Think of what do you do when, upon cleaning some closet or room, you come across some accessory that belonged to something that you had long since thrown away.  What good is the accessory if the object with which it came is no longer around or has been upgraded?  It isn’t.  It’s of no value.  In Christ you have been upgraded; you have been made new.  The sin that used to be your accessory no longer belongs.  Get rid of it.  Throw it in the trash.  There’s no need of it anymore when you’ve been given fullness in Christ.

Before hot air balloons were piloted completely by controlling the amount and temperature of the air in the balloon, sand bags were used to serve as ballast.  For the balloon to rise up into the air, it was necessary to release some of the sand bags from the basket.  Otherwise, too much weight would bring the balloon sinking back to the earth.  Is it possible that what keeps us from attaining greater heights of fulfillment in our relationship with Jesus is that we have too much ballast in our lives?  Do we need to throw out some of the sand bags of earthly pleasure and gain that drag us down and keep us from rising higher?  That’s what Paul is calling us to do.  Throw sin overboard.  Toss it out of the basket so it doesn’t weigh you down and cause you to plunge back to earth instead of soaring into heaven on the merits of your Savior.

Remember, dear friends, what awaits us there.  Remember as the oldest son and heir of the Duke of Hamilton did.  Sadly, he contracted a disease that would end up taking his life.  Yet sometime prior to his death he was reassured through his reading of Scripture about the crown of righteousness that awaited him when he died.  When death was near, he called in his younger brother and joyfully shared with him what he knew would be true when he would die very shortly.  He said, “And now, Douglas, in a little time you’ll be a duke, but I shall be a king.”  May we, so long as the Lord blesses us with time on this earth, have the same assurance of what awaits us at home in heaven, where we will find fulfillment forever, as we Close with Christ. Amen.

                                                              

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)