Goal #1 Be Mindful of Who You Are in Christ

Well, did you make any New Year's resolutions before 2020 began last week?

Or maybe you didn't make what you call resolutions, maybe you set some goals for the new year.

What's the difference between a resolution and a goal?

Well, here's one.

A resolution can be defined as a firm decision to do or not do something.

You may have made a resolution to get in better shape this year, and you're planning to walk three days a week, every week.

You're going to lose 20 pounds.

You've resolved to do that.

A goal could be defined as the result toward which effort is directed.

You may have not even thought in terms of a resolution, but you have set a goal of getting in better shape this year.

And your goal is to walk or run every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6 a.m. at the Y on a treadmill.

And you're going to lose 20 pounds by June the 1st.

Now, the way I am using these words, goals are more precise.

They're more result-oriented than resolutions.

On this first Sunday of the new year, I want us to think God has some goals for us.

But God's goals are not just for this new year.

God's goals are for this hour, this day, this month, this year, and on and on.

You see, God will never stop working to accomplish His goals in our lives as His children.

He's going to work throughout our lives to the very, very end until He calls us home in heaven.

Probably the best one-sentence description of God's ultimate goal for everyone who belongs to Him is this.

Look at it from Romans 8.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

That's really God's ultimate goal for every Christian.

He is conforming us.

He's working in every aspect of our lives.

He's working with people you live with, even the difficult people you live with, people you work with.

He's working in everything, through every kind of thing imaginable,

to shape and mold our character, to develop Christ-likeness in us.

But I want us to look at a more detailed description of God's goal as found in Colossians chapter 3.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

If you would turn in your Bible to Colossians chapter 3,

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

and we're going to begin today what I plan to be a three-part message.

We're looking at God's goals for you this hour, this day, this year, and on and on.

We're going to look at Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 through 17, today, next Sunday, and the following Sunday.

Colossians 3:1–17

Today I want us to look at what I'm calling the first of the three goals that God has for us.

Goal number one, be mindful of who you are in Christ.

Be aware, have an understanding of who you are right now as God looks at you, as God thinks of you,

by virtue of the fact that you are united to Jesus by faith.

Let's read it.

Colossians 1, verses 1 through 4.

Colossians 1:1–4

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

What we're going to look at this morning, the first of the three parts, three goals,

is the most difficult part.

But it's also the most important.

What Paul is doing here is describing who we are as Christians in spiritual terms,

from God's perspective,

and everything else, beginning in verse 5 and following,

flows from what we're going to look at this morning.

We'll see, beginning in verse 5,

there are some things that shouldn't be in our lives as Christians

that we need to sort of take off like a dirty coat.

We'll read on in Colossians.

There are some things that God wants us to develop,

to put on like a clean coat in terms of character qualities.

But here's what I want us to understand.

You don't become a Christian by doing this and stop doing that.

You don't make yourself acceptable to God.

You don't put off and put on, put off bad character,

put on good character as the way to make God love you more or accept you.

We're going to look at this morning

who we are in Christ, united to Christ.

Who we are, how God accepts us.

And it's all through our faith and trust in Jesus

and what He's done for us.

And then we're going to look after this week.

Based on who we are right now before God,

we need to grow in our development of Christ's character

by doing certain things.

You follow me.

You're with me.

What we're going to look at today may be hard,

but it is foundational.

Every Christian in this room,

and by the way, this is a message for believers.

We're talking about people who are truly united to Christ in faith.

You have turned from your sin.

You trust Jesus.

You've committed your life to Him.

This is a message for you.

The first thing I want us to see is

God calls us to understand who we are in Christ.

Throughout his letters,

Paul repeatedly describes Christians

in terms of how God sees us.

We are united to Christ in faith.

I want you to look at how Jerry Bridges points this out,

that it was Paul's consistent way of describing Christians.

He says the term in Christ is the Apostle Paul's shorthand expression

for being united to Christ.

It is one of Paul's favorite expressions,

and including similar expressions such as in Him or in the Lord.

Paul uses it more than 160 times in his letters.

Clearly, this is an important concept in Paul's theology,

and it should be an important concept for us

because all the remaining answers to the question,

who am I as a Christian?

Who am I in Christ?

Are based upon the fact that we are in Christ,

or we are united to Christ.

Now, look at where we are in Colossians 3.

Paul describes how we are united to Christ

in three little bit different ways.

Note in verse 1,

you have been raised with Christ.

Verse 3,

you have died and your life is hidden,

hidden with Christ in God.

Something similar is in chapter 2, verse 20.

With Christ, you died.

And then in verse 4,

Christ who is your life.

Here's the idea.

From the moment we put our faith in Jesus as our Savior and Lord,

we were united to Him.

We have been one with Him.

That is how God sees us.

When God looks at you,

He doesn't look at you and think about the flaws,

the sins,

the selfishness.

When He looks at you on your good day,

He doesn't see how much you read the Bible,

or prayed,

or how much you witnessed.

When God looks at you,

He sees that you are united to Christ,

and it's because you are united to Christ

that God accepts you.

Paul describes how we as Christians are united to Christ

in His death and resurrection in these verses.

Think about it.

We have died with Christ

to sin's penalty and power.

The penalty for your sin,

the punishment that you and I deserve because of our sin,

has been paid.

It was paid when Jesus died on the cross.

He suffered for us in our place.

Therefore,

we are now forgiven.

I want you to understand,

God no longer holds your sin against you

if you are united to Christ in faith.

Don't live your life

because of past sin,

because you think,

there's some way I've got to make up for it.

If you're a Christian,

you're trusting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

The penalty for your sin,

all of it,

has been paid.

It's been paid in full.

The penalty's paid.

That also means we're united to Christ in His death.

The power of sin over us has been broken.

Do you realize

that because you're united to Christ,

His Spirit,

the Holy Spirit lives within you,

you can say no to temptation.

Whatever that temptation may be.

You do not have to give in to the power of sin,

however it comes to you,

because there is greater power in you,

the Spirit of Christ.

You can say no to temptation.

You can resist it all.

In fact,

God so works in us

through His Spirit

to give us not only the desire

to say no to temptation,

but He gives us the desire

and the ability

to actually obey God

and live the kind of life

that will please God,

do God's will.

We've died with Christ.

We're one with Him.

And so we have actually died.

The penalty for our sin

no longer applies to us.

The power of sin has been broken

because of our union with Christ.

He defeated it.

So you can live a faithful Christian life.

I can resist temptation.

And when I don't,

it's because I chose

to give in to the temptation.

Don't blame somebody you live with.

Don't blame your circumstances.

Don't talk about how weak you are.

You are weak.

But if you're a Christian,

you are united to Christ.

The Spirit of God lives in you.

And so you can do

what He calls you to do

because sin does not have the power

over you as a Christian.

Number two,

we've also been raised with Christ

in new resurrected life.

That means we have eternal life.

And eternal life is more than

just living forever.

But that is a part of what it is.

Eternal life is also a quality of life.

What Jesus called in John's gospel

an abundant life.

I want you to think,

if you're a Christian united to Christ,

you have new life.

You are a privileged child of God now

all because of your oneness with Christ.

Paul is telling us

this is how we need to look at ourselves.

Paul is telling us

this is now who we are

by virtue of our union with Christ

in faith.

In faith.

Understand who you are

in Christ right now.

That is something that's very important

for us to do.

God wants us to do that.

And as we'll see in the next couple of weeks,

it is important that we don't try to

think about what we do and don't do

in terms of

earning God's favor

or losing God's favor.

You, if you're a Christian,

trusting Christ,

you have God's favor right now.

And it's in spite of your sin.

And it has nothing to do

with your best efforts

on your best days.

You're accepted by God

because you are in Christ.

But God wants us to do more

than just understand this.

God calls us to live

like who we are

in Christ.

Let's look at that

for a few minutes.

God wants us to live

our lives in this world

in light of

who we are

as His children.

When I was in high school,

I played baseball.

I was

a first baseman.

And sometimes

I pitched.

That tells you something

about my pitching ability,

doesn't it?

I didn't have

any scholarship offers.

I didn't have

any minor league contracts.

I played baseball.

I was a first baseman.

And sometimes

I pitched.

I was not in

our two-man rotation.

And so when I was

going to pitch,

the coach would tell me

the day before,

tomorrow

you're going to pitch.

Be ready.

What that meant was

the coach was telling me,

tomorrow

your position

is to pitch.

And when that day came,

I walked out to the mound

and I pitched.

If you are a Christian,

God has placed you

in Christ

and that is your

position

before God.

But God also

calls you

to live

like a person

who is united

to Christ

and has the power

of the Holy Spirit

within you.

Let's look now

at how Paul describes

how we are to live

like a person

who's in Christ.

He says

in verse one,

we must stay focused

on Christ.

Let's look at it.

If then you've been

raised with Christ,

seek the things

that are above

where Christ is,

seated at the right

hand of God.

Paul is telling us

to seek things,

focus on things

related to

the Lord Jesus Christ

who is

right now

at this moment

at His

exalted

position

of power

and privilege

at the right

hand of God.

I want you to look

at how Matt

Chandler

describes what

Paul is saying

in this verse.

He says

the goal,

the pursuit,

what we are after

is Christ.

To know Him,

to walk with Him,

to have Him

shape us,

to have Him

chisel away

at us,

to have Him

create in us

a joy

of salvation

given to us

by Him.

Matt's saying

that Paul

is saying

the way

to live

like a person

who is united

to Christ

is to focus

on Him,

knowing Him,

loving Him,

serving Him,

seeking to

cooperate

with the Holy Spirit

as He works

in our lives

to make us

more like Christ,

to develop

Christ-like character

in us.

Now I want you

to hear this next

part real carefully.

Here's what

this does not

mean.

We do not

focus on

Jesus Christ

in order to

get something

from Him.

We don't use

Him

to get

something that

we want,

we need,

even something

good.

I don't know

how many people

this would apply

to in this room,

but I've heard,

I know,

and sometimes

I think

I act

maybe this way.

Sometimes

some Christians

have the idea

that if I get

serious about

living a faithful

Christian life,

if I get serious

about being a

committed follower

of Jesus,

then He will

do something

like maybe

restore my

marriage,

if that's my

problem.

He'll save

my rebellious

child if I'll

just get serious

about my

relationship with

Him.

Or He'll turn

my child back.

Or He'll provide

me with a good

job, a better

job, if I just

get serious

about my

relationship with

Him.

Now,

don't misunderstand

what I'm saying.

The Lord is able

to do all those

kinds of things.

God wants us

as His

children

who have a

relationship with

Him, He wants

us to pray and

ask Him to

meet our needs.

And if your

problem is at

home with your

spouse, ask God

to work, change

you, change him

or her.

Ask God to work

in your child's

life, do whatever

needs to be done.

never fail to

ask God.

Sometimes we

don't have because

we do not ask,

the Scripture

says.

But what I'm

saying is we

cannot use

Jesus and a

relationship with

Him to guarantee

ourselves such

things.

I know a man in

another state

pretty well.

He went through a

painful divorce just a

few years ago.

His wife made it a

point to turn their

daughter against

him, her dad.

Now before they had

their issues, before

they separated, this

man and his daughter

had a very good

relationship.

They did all kinds

of things together.

together.

But when the man and

wife separated, the

wife really made it

her goal, I'm going to

turn my daughter against

her dad, and she was

successful.

From the time this girl

was about 14 to 17, she

chose not to have any

contact with her dad.

It was her decision.

Her mother tried to turn

her against him, but her

mother did not forbid her

to go and see him, to do

anything with him.

The girl chose to believe

her mother.

And by the way, there was

no abuse, adultery, nothing

like this involved.

But the girl chose, I'm

going to leave my dad out

of my life.

Well, during her senior

year in high school, it

occurred to her, I want to

go to college, and mama

can't pay for college.

And so what she did, she

started making contact with

her dad again.

And not long after, she

wasn't real smart, not long

after she started making

contact with her dad.

She actually texted him

and said, will you pay for

my college?

He saw it coming.

He knew what she was

doing.

And so he just texted her

back, no.

And as far as I know, he

has not heard from her

since.

He was not going to be

used.

And what I want us to

understand is, our

Heavenly Father and the

Lord Jesus are not going to

be used either.

We need to focus on Jesus

today because of who he is.

He is worthy of our love,

our affection, our

commitment, our

obedience.

We need to think about

what he chose to do for

us in dying for our

sins, living a perfect

life on our behalf.

He did that because he

loves us.

We need to seek to know

him, develop a relationship

with him, become like him

because we find joy in

that.

Because we want that kind

of relationship with him.

And in the context of

having such a loving

relationship with him, with

our Heavenly Father, we are

invited to pray and ask for

things.

You know, the man in the

story I was telling you, he

would give anything to have a

loving, close relationship

with his daughter.

And if he had, if it had

continued, he would have

gladly helped to pay to send

her to college.

But he was not and is not

being used.

We need to remember that.

Paul is calling us to focus

our attention where Christ is,

seated at the right hand of

God.

Set your minds, that's next on

the things that are above.

We need to do that for the

right reasons.

Because we want to know him.

We want to be close to him.

Let's look at how we can stay

focused on Christ.

I jumped the gun a little bit

here.

We must set our minds on the

right things and not the wrong

things, verse 2.

Look at the verse.

Set your minds on things that

are above, not on things that

are on earth.

How do we set our minds on

things that are above?

I think the simplest way to

think of it is we need to go

to the source of truth about

the things that are above, and

that is the Bible.

God is not who you think he is,

what other people think he is.

Jesus is not who you have conjured

up in your mind.

God is who he has revealed himself

to be in the pages of Scripture.

Jesus is how he is revealed in the

pages of Scripture.

So if we want to really know him,

have a relationship with God,

develop Christ-like character,

we need to spend time in God's

word, discovering who he is and

how this can be.

And I want to say this on the first

Sunday of a new year.

If you have resolved or set a goal

to read through the Bible this year,

that is good.

That is something that all of us

could profit from.

But I want to also say this.

We need to do more than just read

through the Bible this year as if

it's just another book we're going

to read.

We need to make sure as we read the

Bible that we take the time to

listen to what God is saying through

those pages and through his Spirit.

We need to take the time as we read

to let it sink in.

To believe it.

To obey it.

On a practical side, you may have as a

goal to read through the Bible this

year, will you take a certain amount

of time every day to do that?

But then I would encourage you to

take another time to read the Bible

like I'm talking about prayerfully,

carefully, and listen to God

with the idea you want to hear Him.

You want to discover what He's saying

in His Word about what you should

believe, why you should believe it,

how you should live.

If you don't have a time set aside

on a regular basis to spend time with

God like this in His Word,

I want to encourage you to ask Him

to help you get started this week.

Establish a time and a place where

you're going to do this.

It may be in the morning, it may be

night, it may be in the middle of the

day.

What works for you, it doesn't matter.

Make an appointment with God.

And don't make it a chore.

Don't think of it as something I gotta do.

Think of it as an opportunity for you

to spend with Almighty God.

Think of it as a time for you to draw

closer to Him.

To draw closer to the Lord Jesus.

To get to know Him better.

To know how to please Him better.

Well, let's look also, how do we avoid

setting our minds on things of the earth?

Now, I want to clarify what Paul is

saying here real quick.

He's not saying that we should not

think about things on the earth.

He's not de-emphasizing in any way

the importance of your home, your

family, your work, your school, or

all the kind of things we need to do

in life.

If you doubt that, read on in chapter

three, Paul's going to start talking

about how we ought to live as

husbands and wives, parents and children,

and other practical things like that.

It matters how we live.

God cares how we live.

We need to think about, be involved in

this world

as Christians,

as distinctly

Christians.

what Paul is talking about here is allowing

things of this world

to distract us

and prevent us

from really focusing on Christ

and developing Christ-like character.

We're going to look at some of the more

obvious things, sinful things

next week,

but I want you to,

this is something only you know.

what kind of things do you find

distracts you

and hinders you

from being focused on the Lord

or even from living a faithful

Christian life?

It doesn't have to be something sinful

or evil.

It could be something that's basically

neutral.

It could be certain people in your life.

They just,

they're a distraction.

They're a stumbling block.

It could be certain types of music

you listen to.

I'll be honest with you.

This college football season,

I know too much

about what's going on

in college football life.

I've spent too much time

on that ESPN app.

ESPN's not sinful.

Football's not sinful.

I like football.

I like to play.

I like to watch it.

It's an entertaining thing for me.

But you can do it too much.

You can think about it too much.

You can be more concerned

to find out the scores of yesterday

first thing in the morning.

So concerned that you spend your time

looking at what happened

in college football

that you don't even think about

your relationship with the Lord.

Spending time with Him.

And I'm not the only pagan

who does things like that

in this room.

What's yours?

What's your ESPN app?

Is it a person?

Is it a thing?

Something that could be good?

Could even be your job.

Certain aspects of your job

you worship

instead of the Lord.

Identify the things of the world

that what we could say

hurt you spiritually

and cause you to take your eyes

off of Christ

and following Him.

Repent of engaging

in such activities.

Ask God to help you

to eliminate them.

If you're a Christian

how does it show?

Do you really have a heart

for the Lord

and the things of God?

Well prove it.

Prove it to yourself.

Point to evidence

in your thoughts

in your desires

in the things you talk about

in the things you do.

What are you doing

to develop

that kind of heart?

What do you need to do?

What are you doing

that's hindering

your relationship

with the Lord?

Those are things

that need to change.

God wants us to know

who we are in Christ.

Final thoughts.

You are accepted by God

if you're a Christian

because you are united

to Jesus Christ

in faith

and that's it.

Let that sink in.

Your acceptance

is based on

who Jesus is

and what He has done

for you.

Now

by God's grace

live like someone

who is united to Christ.

Stay focused on Him.

On knowing Him.

Loving Him.

Serving Him.

By God's grace

becoming more like Him.

Would you pray with me?

Dear God

show us

what our response

should be right now.

Make it clear

and help us to do that.

Father I pray

that you'll

emphasize

help everyone

to

understand

this is a message

directed at people

who are true

Christians.

Trusting in Jesus

and Him alone

for their salvation.

Committed to Him

wholeheartedly.

But if there are people

in this room

who are not Christians

Father I pray

that you'll help them

to see

that what they need

to do

is admit

their need

of Jesus.

Admit their sin.

Humble themselves.

Change their mind

about the way

they're living.

and trust Jesus

as their

Savior and Lord.

Father make it clear

what we should do

how we should respond

to you

and help us

to do it right now.

Let's just pray

and respond to the Lord

as He speaks.

I would love to pray

with you

help you

here at the front

in the next few minutes

if you want to come forward.

thank you very much.