Author: Steve

Can You Be So Heavenly Minded That You’re No Earthly Good?
Intro:
1. This statement is sometimes used for people ..
a. Who are involved in a cult or a very Fundamentalist Christian who is attempting to prove that he has all the right answers all the time.
b. Who can quote the Bible for just about everything but who lives an inconsistent life to back it up.
2. But is that what this is saying?
Colossians 3:1-8
3. This is a matter of focus — focusing on what's ultimately important — eternal life in heaven. When all is said & done, this is the most important focus to have!
I. v1-2 - What Does It Mean to Focus?
A. It means putting effort into focusing on the Lord & the benefits He provides.
1. ν2 - Set your minds (φρονέω) = to think, exercise your mind
2. v1 - Set your hearts (ζητέω) = look for passionately, earnestly covet.
3. When you focus on heavenly things, God wants your emotions as well as your intellect.
4. ILL: Imaging heaven during quiet time.
B. It means focusing on the Lord's authority — His Lordship
1. v1 - Right hand of God (δεξι τoϋ θεώ).
a. The chief advisor always sat at the king's right side to give him advise.
b. Lord Jesus was to the Father what the right hand person was to the king.
c. Lord Jesus is the CEO of heaven!
2. Focusing as God's child means being quick to obey everything you know to be God's will.
II. v3-8 - How Do You Focus?
A. . In order to live for Christ you have to die to your old life.
1. You die to the old life by crucifying it. Gal 6:14 - May Ι never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
2. That's what the ceremony of baptism is all about - you symbolically bury the old life so you can begin a new Christ centered one. Rom 6:3-8 - Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin -- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
3. When you die to the old life, you identify with the Lord & He with you!
4. ν3 - Hidden with Christ in God (κέκρυπται σύν τώ Χριστos έν τώ θεώ) - God is a file cabinet - Lord Jesus is a file folder — You are the document inside!
B. ν5 - Dying to the old life means putting to death attitudes associated with the old life.
1. Sexual immorality (πορνεία) = fornication, where we get our word "pornography".
2. Impuritγ (ἀκᾰθαρσία) = unclean (as in a dirty house), unclean thoughts.
3. Lust (πάθος) = affection for, a passion usually for something impure
4. Evil desires (ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν) = a longing for something forbidden.
5. Greed (πλεονεξίαν) = covetousness, extortion, a desire to always have more.
C. v8 - The way to overcome these attitudes is to forsake the actions associated with them.
1. Anger (ὀργή) = desires that excite the mind; unrestrained, undisciplined anger; we get our word "orgy" from this word.
2. Rage (θῡμός) = an anger that boils.
3. Malice (κᾰκία) = a desire to injure, vicious character.
4. Slander (βλασφημία) = blasphemy, speech that is intended to injure someone.
5. Filthy language (αἰσχρολογία) = obscenity, foul mouthed.
Why focus on the Lord & His benefits? Everything we experience in this life is temporary. Everything! Everything that God has for us in heaven is permanent. It's only when you focus on that which is from above that you can become more like the Lord. Focus on Him!
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