CONTENTS
- Come to Jesus Daily devotional
- Monday – Since you have been raised…
- Tuesday – Seek the right things
- Wednesday – Trust Jesus’ authority
- Thursday – Trust Jesus’ protection
- Friday – Have a vision of glory
- Community Group/Family Study
You can listen to the message at: Link for audio content
For more information visit: www.communitychurchputney.com
1. COME TO JESUS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
MONDAY – SINCE YOU HAVE BEEN RAISED…
Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above…
Identity has a massive effect on behaviour and feelings: You’ve just been told you got the job/you don’t have the job; she will marry you/she will not; you have cancer/you don’t; you are pregnant/you are not… These kinds of things affect our identity and have great impact. Paul says ‘since you have been raised with Christ…’ Knowing that we are raised with Christ will affect everything, including our thinking (v.2), Our future (v.4), Our morality (v.5), relationships (v. 12), What one speaks about (v. 16), Life in the home (v.18-21) etc. But all good behaviour comes out of what we have become - those raised with Christ.
What does it mean to be ‘Raised with Christ’?
To be raised with Christ is to have been made alive by the Holy Spirit. Through faith in Jesus, we are forgiven and given new life (regeneration). Baptism, as we saw in chapter 2, symbolises what’s happened to us,
’Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead’ (Colossians 2:12).
Paul puts it in Ephesians 2,
‘But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.’ (Ephesians 2:4-6)
Response
No matter how dead you feel. No matter what you or others say about you, if you have put your faith in Christ, you are raised with Christ; these words are true of you, ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God…’ (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)
TUESDAY – SEEK THE RIGHT THINGS
Colossians 3:1-2 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.
Different creatures behave in different ways. As those who have been ‘raised with Christ’ and being ‘a new creation’ as we saw yesterday, we are a new kind of human, or to put it more accurately, a restored humanity that’s in process of completion.
In verse 4 He writes, ‘Christ, who is your life’ – our new spiritual life is Christ Himself! He lives in us, and we live in Him. This means that Christians have His nature and His desires.
Seek things above
Paul tells them to ‘seek things above’ (There’s no ‘heart’ in the greek) and to ‘Set your minds on things above’. This means to seek to know Christ. It’s to put all of our faculties to the goal of learning about and worshipping Jesus.
Do not seek earthly things
There are so many bad and good things that distract us from Jesus. We are encouraged to seek worldly pleasure, luxury, status and, as was the case for the Colossians, worldly religion based upon ‘human tradition …rather than on Christ’ (2:8).
Response
‘Since you have been raised with Christ…’ are you using your mind and time to its best use? Are you growing in knowledge and blazing affection for Jesus? Are there time and mind robbers that you need to kill? Are their disciplines that you need to start? Let’s finish by Meditating and praying out of Jesus; words,
‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’ (Matthew 6:33)
WEDNESDAY – TRUST JESUS’ AUTHORITY
Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God
There are many reasons why, as we saw yesterday, we do not give our best to seeking to learn about and grow in love for Jesus:
Fear – I can’t give time to this, I’m juggling too many balls already!
Authority – I choose what I do with my time and mind.
Inadequacy – I don’t have the intelligence to learn about Jesus and the bible. I’m too ill-disciplined, dyslexic, disorganised…
All excuses are answered in our verse today.
Christ is seated at the right hand of God
Firstly, He is ‘Christ’ – He loved you so much as to come and die for you. He wants you to know and love Him. He’s for you in this.
He is ‘seated at the right hand’ – This reveals His equality with God. Jesus has all the power that you need to learn about Him. He gives His Spirit to teach us. If you are thirsty to learn, He will teach you. But, He also has authority over you. Your choice not to learn is rebellion against your Lord!
Response
Many of us are stressed out and close to breaking point. The answer is to give more time and energy to ‘setting your mind on things above’! why would you give your life to holding your life together rather than coming to the one who holds the universe together? Jesus’ encounter with Mary and Martha confronts all of us in our “I’m too busy, tired, unable…” to learn attitude. When Jesus came to their house. We read in Luke 10,
‘Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.’ (10:39- 40)
Jesus’ response to Mary’s complaint about her sister is challenging,
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (10:41-42)
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ…let’s make sure that we all make our ‘one thing’ the right thing!
THURSDAY – TRUST JESUS’ PROTECTION
Colossians 3:1-3 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. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
There is a horrific account of the death of the actor, David Niven’s, first wife. They were playing sardines (a type of hide-and-seek) when she went to hide in, what she thought was a cupboard, only to be killed by falling down the stone steps to the cellar! The point is, what you ‘hide’ in can save or kill you!
We are ‘hidden in Christ in God’. This speaks of our secure position. Our lives and salvation are in His powerful and loving care.
When a nuclear bomb goes off it makes all the difference as to what you are ‘hidden’ in! You are hidden in Christ – God’s perfect holy judgment will ‘passover’ you. Death cannot touch you. The devil cannot touch you. Nothing can separate you from His love and salvation!
Response
Our verse says that ‘you died’. In Christ, you have died. The sentence of death for your sin has been carried out, never to be repeated. You are now ‘hidden with Christ in God’. Take some time to meditate and worship out of these texts,
Psalm 27:5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.
Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.
FRIDAY – HAVE A VISION OF GLORY
Colossians 3:1-4 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. For you died, and 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.
C. S. Lewis’ book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, opens with a dedication,
‘To Lucy Barfield. MY DEAR LUCY, I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realised that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say…’
This ‘too old for fairy stories’ attitude can infect us with regard to what Paul says here about the Christian’s final hope, and the hope of the renewal of all creation. We are too grown up and busy to think on death and Jesus’ return…we’ve got more important things to think about, let alone work toward it!
When Christ appears you will appear in glory
Romans 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
If you are a Christian, it’s because God predestined, called and justified you. But, it carries with it the guarantee of glory. You will be renewed entirely, in a new creation, living eternally in the very presence of God. Our lives in this world that have the background noise of death and sin; let this vision of hope excite and soothe you.
Response
The restoration of all things is what Jesus ultimately died for. This is where everything is heading. In response:
Think – Thinking on these ultimate things will make true treasure our goal. Meditating on our hope will make us immune from despair or from setting our hearts and minds on earthly things.
Live – Setting our minds on our hope will help us to live lives that are congruent with this. It will stop us from giving our lives to things that will be burnt up. It will keep the church from giving herself to a mission that does not aim to save people from the coming wrath of God!
2. COMMUNITY GROUP/FAMILY STUDY
IF YOU ARE RAISED, DON’T GET TETHERED
Read Colossians 3:1-4
Opener – What are the things that burden people and what particularly burdens you in life?
Introduction
We are all burdened by different things at different times. On top of pressures that come from everyday life, there are dark spiritual forces seeking to rob us of joy and steal our trust in Jesus. Jesus, however, wants us to set our minds on Him - His way of salvation, His power and love so as to live in the new life that we have.
Discuss together
- 3:1-2. What does it mean to have been ‘raised with Christ’? (See Ephesians 2:4-7 also)
- 3:2. Why is it vital to ‘set your mind’ on ‘things above’ and what are these things?
- 3:1. Paul says that ‘Christ is, seated at the right hand of God’. This speaks of Jesus’ divine power and authority. How does ‘setting our minds’ to know about Jesus’ power help to relieve our burdens?
- 3:3. We read that ‘your life is now hidden with Christ in God.’ This points to our security: He is always protecting, we can never be lost. How does this help to relieve our burdens?
- 3:4. We are told that ‘When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.’ This is assuring us that all who are Christians will experience final resurrection and new life in a restored creation when Jesus comes. How does having this joyful vision help us give our lives to what’s important? (See Romans 8:18-19 and 2 Timothy 4:1-2 also)
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