Dead to Live
-
Colossians 3:1-4 says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
Paul here in Colossians 3 starts out talking about being “risen with Christ”. What does it mean to be “risen with Christ”? In Romans 6:2-5 Paul describes “risen with Christ” in detail. In order to be risen with Christ we must die to our sins, be buried with Him in baptism, and raise back out of the water to walk in newness of life. Risen with Christ is risen from the grave just as He was. Risen with Christ is where we have left our old life of sin behind and move forward as a new man to live for God.
In Colossians 3 Paul tells them that if they are risen with Christ (Christians), then they are to seek the things which are above. They are to set their affections on things above, not on things on the earth. If we are risen with Christ, then our main goal in life will be to get to heaven. Getting to heaven will be our passion, our goal, our obsession. If heaven truly is our passion and obsession, then we will without a doubt make it to heaven. That is the reason Paul continually teaches us to set our affections on things above (heaven).
When our passions and obsessions are on earthy things, then we become distracted from the spiritual. We can easily forget what is important and what our ultimate goal is. It is not wrong to have things that we enjoy in this life, however we cannot let the physical things of this life distract us from the spiritual.
Also, notice in Colossians 3:3 Paul tells them that they are “dead”. What does he mean by “dead”? How can we as Christians, as those who are alive in Christ, be dead? The answer to this is once again in Romans 6:3-5. We are dead to our sins. We are to put this sinful part of ourselves to death in order to live as a new man. We cannot keep living in sin and doing wrong and live as a new man. We cannot keep living in sin and expect to have a home in heaven. When we refuse to leave sin, then our affections are on the sin which we are so obsessed with. When our affection is on things above, then we will be more than willing to put our sinful actions to death and live as the new man.
Why go to all this trouble? Why go to the trouble of setting our affections on things above and putting to death our sinful actions? Reason: Christ is coming again. We live right so that when He appears, we shall also appear with Him in glory. Yet this reward is only there when our affections are on things above and our sinful self has been put to death!
