Seeds for 3/16/2023 - Colossians 3:3
Scripture: “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.”
Observation: Life and death, death and life. Throughout this short letter, Paul continues to hold Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the cross and the resurrection, firmly together. They are inseparable. And Paul continues to hold them up to the Colossian Christians.
I’ve said before that resurrection is easy for God—getting us to die to sin and to self is the hard part.
Pauls says, “For…” which means that His teaching about setting our hearts and minds on things above not only rests upon having “been raised with Christ,” but also upon having died and having our life “now hidden with Christ in God.”
The significance of the cross is that Jesus takes our sin to the grave and dies on our behalf, thereby putting our resistance and rebellion from God to death, freeing us both from sin’s consequences and sin’s power. The significance of the resurrection is that Jesus is victoriously raised to life. As the modern worship song declares it, “Death could not hold You, the veil tore before You; You silenced the boast of sin and grave.”
What Paul seems determined to hammer into the Colossians is that through faith, we are included in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Yes, He does it for us, on our behalf. No doubt about that. And, He carries us through death to life, so that we make the journey, as it were, with, through, and by Him. Not simply because He’s leading us through and we follow along, doing it ourselves. Rather, as Paul puts it here, “you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
The mental image I have is a cartoon character wearing a large trench coat, in which many other, smaller and less capable characters are hidden, in order to sneak them past some dastardly villain (I’ve no doubt this is from some Looney Toons episode in childhood). In our case, the villain is sin, death, and the devil. We must die to sin and self, yes. But also we do so hiding ourselves in Christ at His great invitation, being included in His transformative journey from death to new life. Perhaps this image, which I’ll admit is rather silly, is somehow helpful.
Making it to the shores of this new life is one thing. Learning the ways of this new life is the lifelong project now, requires setting our hearts and minds “on things above, not on earthly things.” To do that, we must remember the foundational truth and the practical, ongoing significance of life and death in Christ.
Application: Do you gravitate more to the sacrificial death of Jesus or the resurrection life of Jesus as having the most significance for your daily life? Or do you hold both together well?
Prayer: Lord, hide me in the shadow of your cross, that I may live humbly before you. Lead me in paths of righteousness for your glory’s sake. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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