“Since you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
Have you heard the statement: "You're so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good?" According to the Bible, just the opposite of that statement is true. We can be so earthly minded that we are no heavenly good! Colossians 3:1-4 is a call to live the “upward” life here “below”, to live with eternity’s values in view.
Many live on a spiritual poverty level when we have all of the “riches of grace” (Ephesians1:7) in Christ Jesus. The high cost of low living is certainly taking its toll upon individual Christians and upon the church of Jesus Christ in general.
Consider three truths relative to the Heavenly Minded contained in the first four verses in Colossians chapter three:
OUR DIGNITY - We Are Identified With Christ
“…you were raised with Christ… for you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. “
Identity theft is a growing crime in the United States. It occurs when one’s personal information is stolen and used. The perpetrator commits fraud by pretending to be someone they are not. There are many companies that sell products that they claim will prevent identity theft. One such commercial offers a "Complete Idiot's Guide to Recovering from Identity Theft" and they solicit your business by urging everyone to "Safeguard Your Identity.”
As Christians, our identity as children of God is safeguarded in and by the Lord Jesus Christ!
Do we understand how God sees us? Do we understand how permanent is our identity in Christ? Let us look at how God sees us:
A. We Died With Christ.
In order for the Lord Jesus to be raised He had first to be dead. Galatians 2:20 tells us that we were identified with Christ in His crucifixion: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
When Jesus died for our sins, God reckoned that believers were identified with Him in that death. Horatius Bonar, Scottish Presbyterian minister, author and hymn writer, explained his identity in Christ as follows: "Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die; another’s life, another’s death, I stake my whole eternity." And, all believers can say the same.
B. We Were Raised With Christ.
“Since you were raised with Christ….” (v.1) Paul said it like this in Ephesians 2:1 - “And you
He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”
This is co-crucifixion and co-resurrection – that’s God’s perspective. Crucified with Christ and raised with Christ. We have been saved from a condition of eternal death by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is an accomplished fact in the mind of God. Our old self and our old way of life are gone. We have been changed. We are new creatures as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says - “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” In Christ you are a new you!
I have been present at several exhumations when bodies were removed from the grave for forensic purposes. It is not a pleasant sight. Suppose, for the purpose of illustrating what Paul is saying here in v.1, a body is being extracted from the grave, when suddenly that body is instantly reconstituted and restored to life and walks out of the cemetery!
Now, bring that analogy over into the spiritual realm. Our resurrection in and with Christ is none the less dramatic. To go back and re-enter that grave would be unthinkable. Yet there are many who call themselves Christian who are still wearing the old grave clothes of the former life of sin.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, we are told, “The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go" (John 11:44, NIV). Christian, take off the grave clothes, you’ve been raised to new life in Christ!
Paul begins this 3rd chapter of Colossians by saying, “Since you were raised with Christ” -
that is a past fact. Are we realizing that tremendous truth in our daily lives? Let us cast off
the grave clothes of the old life and live the life of identification with Christ.