The Master’s Vision: For His Children

Colossians 3:1-12
Cascades Fellowship CRC, JX MI
January 4, 2004

When I was attending college, I often spent my summers working construction to

help make ends meet. On one site where I worked, I heard a rather extraordinary

conversation between the foreman and the project supervisor. Both were experienced

builders, scores of experience between them. We had reached the point where we were

preparing to pour the footing for our building and the foreman and the super were talking

about how they were going to frame the building and what areas of weakness there might

be in the building’s structure.

Now, if they had had a set of blueprints in front of them or an artist’s interpretation

of the plans, the conversation might have made sense. But these two stood conferring,

pointing at the air where the building would eventually be, as if the structure already

existed. They were talking about beefing up this support, moving that doorway. Then,

they walked to where each corner post would be and pointed out where the post would

mate-up with the steel I-beam and the angles that would be required. And they were

specific – mentioning measurements and adjustments in terms inches and fractions of

inches.

For one who had never seen a picture of the building or the blueprints for the

structure, the conversation was utter nonsense. But for the two professional builders, the

ones who had seen the blueprints at some point and had seen other buildings of this type,

the conversation made perfect sense. You see, knowing what they were looking for
helped them to see the building, even before it occupied the space where it was being

built. Because they knew what it looked like, the foreman and the super were able to

form a clear vision of the building that allowed them to discuss potential problems before

they arose.

Over the past year, we have talked on and off about vision. Maybe some of you

recall that in June of 2002 a sermon was preached on vision – how we define it and why

it is necessary. Since then, we have done some work on defining our values, getting to

know our community better and considering how we can foster a culture in which vision

can grow. Out of our work has come a core values document which has been passed to

the congregation for review and has received tacit approval.

The next logical step for us in this process is the actual formation of vision – the

conception of an image that describes where God is leading our church. But before we

get all fired up and begin writing down our wildest imaginings and dreams for our church

– things like grow by thirty families a year, building a new multi-million dollar facility,

using sub-basements and adding floors so that we can stay at this location, and

developing a k-junior college Christian school, all with only the addition of one more

staff member – before we get to all of that, let’s pull back a minute and consider what

should form the foundation of a vision for the church. Let us consider this morning the

Master’s vision for his children. Let’s get an idea of what the Lord desires for his

children, so that we can more clearly form vision.

For the next few weeks, we are going talk about the Lord’s vision for his chosen.

Did you know that the Lord has an image that describes what he desires for the elect? We
are going to begin with the Master’s vision for his children, in the weeks to come we will

look at the Master’s vision for his people corporately, and then we will talk about what

God desires for his church within the broader community.

To talk about God’s vision for his children, let’s take a look at Colossians 3:1-12.

We will begin by setting the context for this passage. Then we will break the passage

down into its component parts – a holy priority, a holy practice, and a holy nature.

The church in Colossae had a problem. Though it had begun through the witness

of a convert of Paul’s, as the church grew other voices began to be heard. Among them

were false teachers who told a variation on the true gospel that appealed to the vanity of

mankind and our desire to be at least in some degree responsible for our salvation.

What has become known among theologians as the Colossian heresy had a

mixture of Jewish asceticism and Greek philosophy injected into gospel. Instead of

trusting in Christ alone for there salvation, the Colossians began to add things like

festival observances, worship of angels, and having certain levels of knowledge and law

observance. All of these additives led to a devaluing of Jesus Christ and his atoning

death. Christ became less important than all the additives for salvation.

In response to this heresy, Paul writes the Letter to the Colossians. In chapter one

he lays out the supremacy of Christ, unveiling his deity and reminding the Colossians of

his atoning work. Paul reveals that Christ alone is sufficient for salvation and the only

knowledge necessary for salvation is of Christ’s death and resurrection. He who is

unmingled deity is more than adequate for our redemption. Having died in Christ, Paul
says, why then do you still act as if you did not, seeking salvation through your own

efforts? Jesus paid it all, what is required of you is to just live, baby!

Now granted, Paul didn’t include the Al Davis reference – you football-lovers may

remember the famous Davis quote, Just win, baby. But that is the gist of what Paul has

taught the Colossians through the first two chapters of his letter. Since you have died

with Christ who is undiminished Deity, return and ground yourself in the gospel you were

taught concerning him and stop depending on human wisdom. You can almost hear Paul

quote Proverbs 3:5-6.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

But Paul, ever the theologian, does not leave us as having died with Christ. Not

only have we died in Christ, but we have also been raised with him. Not only have we

died with him to the basic principles of this world – we are in this world, not of it – in

him we have also been raised to newness of life with a new principle at work in us. As he

died, we died – as he lives, we live. And this, Paul explains, means our priorities must

shift to reflect our new reality, our new nature. Look with me at vv.1-4 of our text.

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.

What Paul sets before us in these first four verses is a holy priority. But notice

something here. This is not a priority to made in a vacuum. We don’t make Jesus Christ
our priority the same way we make business priorities. We don’t sit down and list pros

and cons, determining which things are more expedient and then placing them at the top

of our list. No, there is a motivation, a clear reason for making him a priority. There is a

debt of gratitude at stake. You could read this first verse this way, “Since you have been

raised with Christ, therefore earnestly seek the things above….”

What you have to love about this statement by Paul is that there is nothing

conditional about it. Paul doesn’t say “If you have been raised with Christ….” It is

“since” you have been raised. He declares that it is a foregone conclusion that we have

been raised with Christ – it has already happened.

“How can he say that?” you ask. We all know that death, the final enemy of the

Christian still stands like a great veil between eternity and us. We don’t feel raised

already, we don’t see evidence of being raised. We still age, we still experience sickness,

we are still subject to the weaknesses of the flesh. How can Paul declare that we are

raised?

Because our life is hid in Christ. We live in him and with him – our life is bound

up with his, inseperable from his. F.F. Bruce says that because Christ lives, we live,

because he is our life as his life is eternal, so our life is eternal. His life is already ours,

but the reality that our life is in him is hidden from the world, even as Christ in the flesh

is hidden from the world at the right hand of the Father. However, Paul says, a day is

coming when Christ will be revealed in glory and when he is, all those who share his life

will also share his glory. Just because we don’t see the fullness of Christ’s life within us
here in the natural does not mean that it is absent. Remember, we walk by faith and not

by sight.

So, in Christ we have already been raised, his life is our life. And the fact that we

have been raised is our motivation for setting our hearts on things above. The point that

Paul is trying to impress upon the Colossians is that there are practical implications to

having your life hid in Christ. There is more to it than simply believing that Christ died

for your sins. Since we have died with Christ, we are dead to sin and the principles of the

world – they can no longer be our priority. Since we have been raised with Christ, our

hearts should be set on the things above – our life should reflect that we share his life.

Out of gratitude for what Christ has done, our priority in life should be expose the life we

share with Christ – to demonstrate our gratitude for being raised with him.

Now let’s pause and think a little about what Paul is doing. He has spent the first

two chapters drawing a picture of who Christ is and calling the Colossians to remember

the gospel as taught to them. And having drawn the picture of Christ, he now calls them

shape their lives into a reflection of the life he has just revealed to them in Christ. In

other words, Paul is holding up Jesus Christ as the model, and telling the Colossians,

“Here is the vision God has for your life, to reflect the image of the Invisible God as seen

in Jesus Christ.”

That is the Master’s vision for his children – to harmonize our lives with the life of

his Son. Romans 8:29 says that those whom God foreknew he predestined to be

conformed to the likeness of his Son. That is God’s priority for us and it should be ours
as well. It should be our personal vision to conform our lives to reflect the life we share

with Christ.

Now, let’s talk frankly for a moment. If you keep a calendar or have a palm pilot

or write out a prioritized to do list for each day or week, do you have at the top of the list,

“Become more like Christ?” Do you wake up in the morning saying, “Today, I have to

make sure I really nurture my life in Christ?” Do you set your mind on things above –

making it a priority each day to demonstrate our gratitude for being raised with Christ

and share his life? If not, you should – I should. Every day that we do not wake up

intending on that day setting our hearts on things above and growing into the likeness of

Christ is a day that we have not humbled ourselves before the Lord. It is a day that we

neglect gratitude and assert Adam’s claim to self-determination – a day in which we make

an attempt to ascend the throne of the Most High God. To be conformed to the image of

Jesus Christ is God’s will for his people. Any day we do not make that our priority is a

day of disobedience.

But what does that look like? Sure, Paul gives us a picture of Christ in the first

part of the letter – but what an intimidating picture! Undiminished Deity in human form.

Were we left with just that, we would probably despair. But Paul breaks down for us

what it means to set our minds on things above and make our priority being conformed to

the image of Christ.

First he gives us a picture of a holy practice. What is so startling about the

practice he calls us to is that first command: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to

your earthly nature. Kill the inordinate desires, selfish urges, the seeking one’s own.
Slay everything that is contrary to the life of the Spirit. Please note – this takes effort, an

act of the will. Since in Christ we are freed from the bondage to sin, we are use that

freedom put aside the deeds of the old nature. In crassest possible terms, murder the old

man – don’t give the old nature a quarter, a chance for it to rise up against you.

Paul even gives us an idea of what belongs to the earthly nature with a catalogue

of wickedness: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

And guard yourself against anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your

lips. None of these things, Paul says, should be part of your life any more. Why?

Because in Christ you died – you died to these things. Sexual immorality, evil desires,

anger, rage, and slander just to name a few all belong to our former lives – these are the

acts of those who are dead in sin. But in Christ we are dead to sin and in Christ we are

made alive to the deeds of righteousness. The old self is put off and the new self put on –

one being renewed in knowledge in the image of the Creator.

Now, there are some here today for whom talk of an old self and a new self is hard

to wrap your head around. You were raised in a Christian home, have believed in Christ

from your earliest days and have never really walked in the ways of the earthly nature.

Let me warn you – do not believe for a second that the old nature has been completely

effaced. I ask again – daily, what is your number one priority? If not growing in Christ

then you have become a victim of the most insidious ploy of our earthly nature –

complacency. And complacency begins with the lie “I have done enough. I’m too busy

with other pursuits to give one more second to deepening my life in Christ.” Pride and
sloth follow, and soon we reserve Sundays for Jesus and Monday through Saturday for

the world.

The vision God has for his children is rounded out with a picture of a holy nature.

Look with me at v. 12.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe

yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and
patience.

I just want to point out one thing about the holy nature God envisions for his people.

Every characteristic of that nature is others oriented – geared toward self-giving love,

toward sacrifice. Compassion, kindness, patience and gentleness all reference heart-felt

desire for another’s well being and good. And humility reference an eagerness to

consider another’s good more important than our own.

Who does that describe? Maybe this will help. Philippians 2:6-8

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
Something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very
nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

God has a vision for your life, for my life. To be conformed to the image of his

Son – who made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, obedient even to

death on a cross. It is his priority for us. Like the builders mentioned in the introduction,

we have an image in mind to guide us, a vision of what God intends to make of us. It is

Christ himself. And we can see the potential problems, the snags along the way

presented by the old man, the earthly nature and the adjustments we need to make to
conform our lives to the holy nature of living in Christ. The only question that remains to

be answered is “What’s your priority?”