“Live wisely among those who are not Christians, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and effective so that you will have the right answer for everyone.” – Vs 5-6

In chapter 3, Paul urged us to “keep seeking the things above” and to “set your mind on the things above.” Now as further proof that Paul is not encouraging some kind of heavenly-minded disengagement from the world, he tells us to watch our walk and our talk among the unbelievers with whom we live. So we are to keep seeking the things above, but to conduct ourselves wisely when it comes to our interaction with the lost here on earth. The kind of wisdom Paul is talking about is a heavenly wisdom. It comes from above. And we discover it by seeking the things above. Solomon said it this way:

“For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” – Proverbs 2:6

So the kind of wisdom we need to live our lives alongside an unbelieving generation comes from God Himself. Earlier in chapter 2 of Colossians, Paul had told them that he wanted them to “have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God’s secret plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2-3). So the more we know Christ, the more access we have to the treasures of wisdom and knowledge we need.

Over in the book of James, we read about earthly wisdom versus heavenly wisdom. James flatly states that earthly wisdom is demonic. It’s characterized by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. But heavenly wisdom looks differently. James says, “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, live a life of steady goodness so that only good deeds will pour forth. And if you don’t brag about the good you do, then you will be truly wise!” (James 3:13). According to James, the wisdom that comes from above is “first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no partiality and is always sincere” (James 3:17).

So how are we to conduct ourselves among the lost? With wisdom. And what is the source of that wisdom? Jesus Christ Himself. How do we access it? By seeking the things above. By spending time in the Word. By getting to know more of Christ, so we can respond like Christ. Why is this so important? So that, as the New American Standard Bible translates verse 5 of Colossians 4, we will be able to make the most of the opportunity. So we will know how to respond to each person. To be able to give them the right answer, seasoned with grace. Grace is “that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm; loveliness: grace of speech; good will, loving-kindness, favour.” That kind of response is NOT of this world. It is not natural. It is not normal. It is from above. And it only comes when we make the things above our highest priority.

Jesus told us that the world would hate us just as it hated Him. We are aliens and strangers here. This is not our home anymore. We are citizens of a new kingdom. But we still have to live here and God expects us to live as ambassadors of His kingdom. We are to be His representatives here on earth, extending His grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness to all those we meet. We are to love the unlovely, share the good news of the gospel with the condemned, share the forgiveness of God with sinners, and exhibit the wisdom of God among a people who desperately need a word from God.

Father, I want to live my life here on earth with wisdom. Your wisdom. I know I can only find that wisdom in Your Son and I get to know Him better through Your Word. Help me to keep my attention focused on Him. Help me to remember that He sits at Your right hand in heaven. That is where my focus and attention needs to be. So that I can respond to each person I meet here on earth with a right answer, seasoned with grace and filled with love. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth.” – Vs 2

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “He’s so heavenly minded that he’s no earthly good.” It is usually used when referring to someone who talks a lot about spiritual things, but it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference in the way they live their lives. That’s NOT what Paul is recommending here when he says, “Set your mind on the things above.” I think he’s talking about perspective and motivation. Because the rest of this chapter don’t paint a picture of someone who’s so heavenly minded that he’s no earthly good. In fact, Paul goes on to tell the Colossians (and us) a whole list of earth-oriented actions to engage in. He tells them to…

…put aside (strip off) the old self with its evil practices (Vs 10)

…put on the new self (Vs 10)

…separate yourself from the deeds of the old nature (Vs 5)

…get rid of anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, lying (Vs 8-9)

…put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience (Vs 12)

…bear with one another and forgive one another (Vs 13)

…put on love (Vs 14)

…let the peace of God rule in your hearts (Vs 15)

…let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise (Vs 16)

…do all in the name of the Lord Jesus (Vs 17)

Now that sounds like someone who is living a life that is doing some earthly good. But it begins with that change in perspective and motivation Paul mentioned in verse 2. I love how The Message interprets that verse.

“Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ–that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.”

Because we live on the earth, we can become obsessed with the things of this earth. If anything, we can become so earthly-oriented that we lose our heavenly perspective. As believers, the “chosen of God ” (Vs 12), we are what Paul refers to as holy. We are separated from all that is unclean and set apart to God. We belong to Him. We are citizens of a new kingdom – His. So we are to think like citizens of that kingdom. We are to be heavenly-minded. We are to see things from God’s perspective and to not forget that we live by a new set of standards and answer to a new King. Paul reminds us that we “have been raised up with Christ,” so we should “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Vs 1). Again, I think The Message gives us some good insight into what this verse means:

“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, [act] like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides.”

Another translation puts it this way, “If then you have a new life with Christ, give your attention to the things of heaven” (BBE). This is all about our new life in Christ. That’s why Paul spends so much time talking about putting on and taking off. We are to remember that we are new creatures with a new nature. But because we live in a fallen world and still have our old sin nature to deal with, we have to go through the daily practice of putting on the new characteristics of who we are in Christ and remove the old habits and characteristics of our old nature. Charles Ryrie puts it this way, “become in experience what you already are by God’s grace. The Christian is risen in with Christ; let him exhibit that new life.”

This is practical stuff. This is here-and-now stuff. It will impact the way we live our lives. It will filter into our homes and relationships. It will change our attitudes toward work. It will change our speech and our conduct. In fact, Paul says, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Vs 17). When we set our mind on the things above, it will change how we live here below. Keeping our thoughts on heaven just means we are thinking about our real home. It means we are reminding ourselves of where the real authority in our lives is. When we hear all the bad news on the evening news, we are to think about Christ sitting on His throne. He’s in control. When we feel tempted to get angry and act out of frustration because of something done to us, we are to think about heaven, and remember that we are children of God who have been offered forgiveness for our sin. Which should make us want to extend the same grace to others here on earth.

Bottom line: we are to live like who we are – the chosen of God. Citizens of heaven. But to do that, we have to let heaven be our motivation. We have to change our perspective from an earthly one to a heavenly one. We have to set our minds on the things above.

Father, give me a heavenly perspective. Let me see this world from Your vantage point. Give me heavenly eyes that see myself as who I am in Christ. Help me to see the world with new eyes, a new perspective – Yours. May my motivation for all that I do come from heaven, not this earth. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

“I want them to have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God’s secret plan, which is Christ himself.” – Vs 2

Knowing Christ is more than just a saving knowledge. It is more than just a belief that gets us forgiveness of sins and entrance into the Father’s kingdom. Knowing Christ offers us so much more. Here, Paul says that it can bring us a sense of confidence. It is “the full wealth of the certain knowledge of the secret of God, even Christ” (BBE). That “full wealth” includes “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Vs 3). We are to aspire to a “complete understanding” of God’s secret plan – Jesus Christ Himself. We are not to settle for a partial understanding, a mere passing acquaintance. We are to grow in our knowledge of Christ.

Paul supports this when he refers to the Colossians as being “firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith” (Vs 7). They were firmly rooted. That word means “to strengthen with roots, to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded.” They had a good foundation. But they didn’t stop there. They were being built up in Him. This is a construction term. It means they were building on the foundation which had been laid. They had sunk roots and were now growing and prospering in their knowledge of Christ. Finally, Paul says they were being established in their faith. They were gaining stability in their faith. The word translated “established” means “to make firm, establish, confirm, make sure.”

Knowing Christ is not a one-time event, but a lifelong process. We are to grow in our knowledge of Him. We are to grow in our intimacy with Him. We are to grow in our dependence on Him. We are to grow in our commitment to Him. Why? Paul tells us in a few short, but very important phrases:

…in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Vs 9)

…in Him you have been made complete (Vs 10)

…in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision without hands (Vs 11)

…you have been buried with Him in baptism (Vs 12)

…you were also raised with Him through faith (Vs 12)

…He made you alive together with Him having forgiven us all our transgressions (Vs 13)

These are just a few of the things we are to know about Christ. He is our Savior, but do we know just how much He has done for us. He is the God of the universe, yet He took on human flesh just so He could pay a debt I could not pay. He took that debt and nailed it to the cross (Vs 14). He has forgiven all my sins – past, present, and future. He has removed the body of flesh from me so that I don’t have to obey it anymore. He has done so much for me. And there is more that I still don’t know yet, but He is waiting to reveal to me. Do you know Him? Are your firmly rooted in Him? Are you being built up in Him? And are you being established in your faith because of Him?

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Vs 6).

Father, thank You for Your Son. Help me to grow in my knowledge of Him. That my roots may grow deeper, and I might be built up and established in my faith because I am increasing in my knowledge of and intimacy with Him.  Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” – Vs 27

This is the gospel in a nutshell. Christ in me! Living in me. Transforming me. Empowering me. Redeeming me. Sanctifying me. And ultimately, glorifying me. In the New Living Translation verse 27 reads this way, “For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory.” Because Christ lives in me, I can rest assured that I will live with Him for eternity. But His presence in me is more than just a ticket to heaven, my hope of an eternity free from hell. It is my hope for a life of radical transformation here and now. Christ in me is the secret to God transforming me. Paul says that “although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach” (Vs 21-22). His death has put us back in a right relationship with God the Father. He has restored our fellowship with God, which had been shattered because of our sin. But now God sees us as holy and blameless and beyond reproach, because He sees us through the blood of Christ. We have been washed clean. We are what the theologians call positionally holy. But Christ in me also makes it possible for me to be made progressively holy. That is why Paul told the Colossians that he and Timothy had “continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better. We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need” (Vs 9-11).

Paul prayed for and expected life change in the Colossians because Christ was in them. He expected to see their lives characterized by moral discernment, an increasing Christ-likeness, fruitfulness, and power. Ultimately, Paul knew the secret to their changed behavior was the change that had already taken place within them: Christ was in them. He had taken up residence in them. Any change that was going to take place would be by His power, not theirs. That is why Paul so fervently proclaimed Christ, because he knew that Christ in us is the secret to changing us. So Paul exclaims, “We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ” (Vs 28). To be mature in Christ is to be like Christ. It is to allow the Christ in us to come out of us. It is to increasingly allow His character to become our character. Paul’s goal was to “bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less” (The Message).

Father, I want to be like Christ. No more, no less. I want the Christ in me to flow out of me. I want others to see Christ in me. May my old self continue to die and my new self in Christ become increasingly more visible to all those around me. And may I increasingly understand that Christ in me is truly my hope of glory now and in the future. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org