Colossians 3:1-3 Seek, Sit, Set This is one of those passage that ought to be memorized. It sets in motion the very practical teachings of Paul. 1. Pauls letters typically start doctrinal but close in the arena of practicality. 2. These verses start that section and give in a few words the heart of the matter. 3. The practical teachings of Paul are an outgrowth of the doctrinal teachings. If we understand as we ought, we will live as we ought! I. A Condition Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, A. IF – That word is a conditional word. 1. It means that this promise may be yours or it may not. 2. If you want the riches the promise unlocks, you must meet the condition the verse requires. B. What is the condition? 1. You must be risen with Christ. 2. This is a reference to salvation. 3. Throughout the Bible, God makes reference to our salvation as us having joined Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 4. Christians share life with Jesus because we have died with Jesus. C. It is interesting that Paul only mentions one, the last one, of the three events we share with Jesus. 1. We have died with Him. 2. We are buried with Him. 3. We are risen with Him. 4. Why just the last? a. The Bible does not say. b. I think it is because the resurrection speaks of the power of a new life. c. It is not just a matter of being saved. It is also a matter of walking in the power that Christ has given to us. D. If you meet this condition (raised with Christ by the power of the resurrection) you are invited to seek, sit, and set. II. The Command A. Seek Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 1. Seek is a command given to us. a. Imperative sentence with you understood as the subject. b. Seek means to search; to find out by thinking, meditating, reasoning, or enquiring; to strive after, to demand, to crave. c. God is commanding the saved, Spirit-filled, empowered believer to look for something. 2. Where? "those things which are above, where Christ sitteth. a. Above b. In the place where Christ sits. c. Those two descriptions would tell me we are looking for heavenly treasure. 3. God is telling is that there is something better, superior, for us if we will seek it, but we have to look in the correct directionupward. a. Too many are looking for Gods blessings in the wrong direction. b. You dont look down and you dont look out. You must look up for Gods best. (1) God can give you very, very good treasures on this earth. (2) However, the best treasures will not be found in your job, your friends, or even your family. c. This correlates to other verses which speak of our heavenly blessings: Psalms 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4. The better and superior blessings of God can be ours if we will find them. a. So what is this? Hide and Seek? b. It is a call to focus and labor for better things. c. We have been talking about the focus. Lets consider the labor. 5. There are two kinds of looking. a. There is the looking you do when you dont really care if you find something or not and there is the looking you do when you really want to find something. b. To find something requires work on your part. (1) It has been experience that these treasures are not just laying around. (2) You will not "bump" into them. (3) You must invest labor and time into a pursuit of heaven. 6. You are going to need some tools. God has provided you with some. a. You can search heaven through the Bible. b. You can search heaven through prayer. c. You can search heaven through fasting. d. You can search heaven through worship in the Lords house. B. Sit 1. The main command is to seek but the second is a courtesy. a. We are told to seek where Christ is sitting. b. In the Bible, sitting is symbolic of rest and having fellowship. c. It would rude to be wandering around Jesus throne and not sit with Him for awhile, wouldnt it? d. This becomes an invitation not only to look where Jesus is sitting but to sit with Jesus. 2. The joy of God is to sit with Man and the joy of Man should be to sit with God. a. I understand busy, hurried, behind, late, overwhelmed. b. I also understand that God created us to have fellowship with Him, not because He needed us. 3. Many Christians are robbing themselves of sweetness of Christ by not sitting with Him in fellowship. Isaiah 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. a. Power is given to those who wait for the Lord. b. To wait is to linger, to stay before, to look for. c. God gives strength and power to those! John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. d. \\#4\\ Abide – to remain, dwell, continue, tarry e. Those who do so become fruitful. f. Those who do not wither. C. Set 1. This is act of labor. (Se we have a command, a courtesy, and a job.) 2. The sweetest fellowship will always be surrounded by determined labor! 3. The idea is not a physically labor but a willful one. a. We are to set our affection, our heart, our love on heavenly things. b. After we seek and sit with Him, we are to SET OUR LOVES IN PROPER ORDER TO KEEP OUR FELLOWSHIP RIGHT. 4. Christians, we should not deceive ourselves: a. We love what we choose to love. b. Somethings cannot be loved equally – it is either the heavenly or the earthly. c. To love the heavenly, you will have to refuse to love the earthly. 1John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 5. To give the world preference over Christ is to be carnally minded. Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. If you are risen with Christ, you can choose to have the better things but you must seek them and be determined to stay with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Colossians 3:1-3 Seek, Sit, Set This is one of those passage that ought to be memorized. It sets in motion the very practical teachings of Paul. 1. Pauls letters typically start doctrinal but close in the arena of practicality. 2. These verses start that section and give in a few words the heart of the … Continue reading “Colossians 3:1-3 – Seek, Sit, Set – Bible study”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}