Being Heavenly Minded

So one of the greatest virtues you could almost say in our modern society is to

be authentic. I'm sure you may have heard that word come up many times. And another

way to say you're being authentic is to say you're being your true self, your

true self. And hence there is much value today on finding out who you truly are.

You know, a simple search in Google you'll find to be truly happy you must

learn to be your true self. You see there's almost an idea that in finding

your true self it'll give you freedom. Now this all comes back from different

philosophers and from like the 1700s one of them being the man called Jean-Jacques

Rousseau which is a very fun name to say. He said or he's famous for saying man

is born free and in everywhere and everywhere he is in chains. It's this

idea that when you're born you're not bound by anything you have unlimited

potential and then as you get older you get more and more constrained by

different things you get almost hidden by different things and your true self

well it's hard to find. Your true self lights hidden in there and in chains

and shackles. Hence we get personality tests loads of them like one of them

being the Myers-Briggs one probably being the most famous and I was obsessed

with it for ages to be honest. They are really ironic thing about these

personality tests. They're there they're meant to show you what a unique and

individual person you're meant to be but you can be unique in 16 different ways.

It's really ironic be free to be one of 16 different types of people but is

Rousseau right? Do we need to look within ourselves to find our true self and then

live that out? Certainly what a lot of people would say today or is it that the

or is that our true self the very cause of all our woes? Is our true self our

real problem? Because our passage does three things it makes us look up. Paul is

asking us to have a different mind a heavenly mind then he makes us look

behind at what we were or inside even and shows us that our true self is

covered in rags and this is our true problem and finally Paul turns us to

show us that we have a new attire something we can be. So the first thing

versus one to four heavenly thinking. Now I'm sure you've all heard the saying

before that you could be so heavy a person being so heavily minded that

they're of no earthly use. Now I haven't yet to meet this person who's so fable

heavily minded that they're no earthly use. However I have met many people who

are so heavily minded that they're of the most earthly use. One example is a

lady from Sterling and my spiritual nanny when I was at university there

years ago Fiona McAllister and to this day if there's ever a problem you could

tell her and she'd bring it straight to prayer to God. She was so focused on who

was above. She was so enamored with Jesus. She was so focused on where she was

going that she was one of the most useful servants of God. Our passage then

begins. If then, if then you've been raised with Christ set your hearts on

things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on

things above not on earthly things. In chapter 2 it explains that the

Colossians were being taken captive by empty philosophers or worldviews. They

were feeling the pressure of the culture around them to conform and to accept

what these other worldviews had to say except what they believed was

valuable or not. But here Paul is saying to value the things that are in

heaven not what is on earth. To have different values, a different culture to

the worlds. But why should we be different? Why should we be any different? It

would be much easier to go with what's popular. It would make our lives much

easier because as Paul says you have died. You have died which means we're no

longer off this earth. Now maybe when someone has passed away you've heard the

saying they're no longer off this world. There's an idea that the things that bound

them to this earth they're all removed. But if, if you have been raised with

Christ, if you believe in Jesus, if you're a Christian, you have died. You are no

longer off the earth. In fact Paul goes on to say your life is hidden with Christ

and God. Now this is an amazing line. As a Christian your very life is hidden in

God. This idea you could almost say Jesus wraps around us. We're completely

hidden in Him. We're wrapped up in God. In this very instance as you sit right

there you're also united with Christ in God's very presence. That's how close we

are. That's how united you are as a believer. There's no separation. There's

no veil. There's no curtain. We are completely united. We are so wrapped up

in Jesus that Paul says when Christ who is your life appears then you also will

appear with Him in glory. That is whatever happens to Jesus happens to us too.

It's like we had a great debt and we bet our lives on that of a gladiator. If the

gladiator loses we lose. But if he wins, we win. If he is glorified we are

glorified. Thus when Paul says when Christ who is your life appears then you

also will appear with Him in glory. It doesn't almost seem fair does it? That we

receive some of that glory and honor by simply being

united to Him. But that's the truth in this. That's how united we are. If a

husband succeeds, his wife succeeds. They're united. And the church is the

bride of Christ. So if we're no longer of this earth, this is the premise, this

whole argument. If you're raised, if you're with Christ, if you're no longer

of this earth, this is how it sets up this whole passage of being heavily

minded. This is how it begins the second half of Colossians, the practical side.

If then, if you're no longer of this earth, if we're hidden in Jesus,

unfolded in Him, we must as Paul says, put to death what is earthly and new. So we're

to be heavily minded because we're no longer of this earth. We died. Our focus

should be in heaven. So to put to death what is earthly and new. That's verses

5 to 11. You put off the old self. If all before us is true, if all that what Paul

said is true, and we're hidden with Jesus in God, I still think that's mad,

hidden with Jesus in God. That seems too much. We're to put to death whatever is

earthly in us. How can those who are united with Jesus in such a close way

that we get His victories for ourselves were covered by Him, still live like

we're not? Now to make this point more clear, what Paul does is he brings us

back to our old self, our earthly self. He makes us look inward. He shows us that

our true self, I'll keep doing this, true self has been broken by sin, and that sin

shows itself in all these ways. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,

coveness, anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk from your mouth, and lying.

He reminds us that that was the way we lived before we met Jesus, before we

met Jesus. Imagine if you will, you had your wardrobe and it's filled with all

your old clothes. Every one of them with its gersh colors, all the things that you

thought were cool back in the day, you know leather, leather wristbands or wooded

surfer beads or anything like that, maybe long hair with the dyed red at parts.

I'm sure you'll remember all the fashion choices that you thought were, this make

me look cool, and I'm sure you would never want anyone to put them back on you

right now and walk through the town. I know I definitely wouldn't. What I thought

was cool, what I thought was good, what I thought, yeah I'm looking like something.

I turned back down and go, oh dear goodness, burn any evidence that I ever wore

that. Oh I really had my hair like that. Oh I really thought I'd look cool. Never

want to put that back on, because from this point of view I can see it for what

it truly is. And that's just like the way we used to live. When we met Christ we

can see the way we truly used to live and see it for what it really is. There's a

Japanese saying that every person has three faces. The first you showed of the

world, the second face you showed to your close friends and family, and the third

face you never showed to anyone, and that is the truest reflection of who you are.

Well if we honestly look at ourselves in the mirror, as the Japanese say our

third face, or as our culture says, the true self, do we see a person who looks

out for others ourselves? And if we are honest, even myself, we all say I look out

for myself. I look out for myself even when I'm trying not to. Do we see someone

who serves others or wants to be served? Do we want to put other other people's

name ahead of us? Or even still do we want our names to go ahead? Can we go

through that small list which Paul reminded us off and think I'm not

like that? Or if we're really sincere, do we not see those things in our hearts?

You see Paul takes us back and shows us the human condition, our true self has

been so marred and so corrupted by sin that it's unrecognizable from the glory

that God created humanity in. The absolute glory that God created humanity in. We've

went so far from that, we're unrecognizable. It's the reason we

had had Jesus pay for our sins to die to come to the cross. That our

condition wasn't just a wee bit fallen, it wasn't just, well God, we bit of dirt in

us, but our condition was we are so marred from our original creation that we

needed God to save us. We needed to be saved. We need to be saved, but the cross

is also the reason that we can now put those things behind us. The cross is the

very thing that showed us I'm no longer off that. As Paul said, in these you too

once walked. When you were living in them, but now you must put them all away.

So put off the old self. Put off the old self. See them for what they truly are.

See them for what they truly are. Old clothes you thought were good and cool,

but really are the worst things that ever touch you. And whenever you see

one of these things raise his head, snipe it, chop it down, kill it no matter how

small, as an old preacher said, if you're not killing sin, sin is killing you. So

we're to be heavily minded, not earthly minded, because we died, we're no

longer off the earth. Secondly, we're to throw off our old self as we've been

shown that it's disgusting, it's vile, it leads to death. Our old self, our true

self, it's actually the chains that are holding us down. It's the things that are

keeping us from being free. But after seeing what our true self is like and

burning it, rejecting it, we're no longer left naked like who am I? What am I?

Rather, we're furnished with a new identity. We're furnished with a new

identity, and we're to put on the new self. Verses 12 to 17, we're to put on the

new self. Now, when I was a boy growing up, I used to dress up as my dad all the

time. Any opportunity I got dressed up like my dad. See, my dad was in the army,

and this is Northern Ireland during the early 90s, so I saw the army every day.

Went to visit my grandparents' army checkpoint. Fortresses of army

barks is everywhere. So I idolized my dad. I thought, coolest thing ever. He had to

go out in trips all the time, so I'm going to Chinook and lift off. My dad's

awesome. So at any church party or any school party, I would take my dad's

uniform, whatever I could fit in, which wasn't very much, and I would try to be

like my dad by putting on his clothes. Here too, we are commanded to put on

Christ. Paul now commands the Colossians to dress up like Christ by acting like

him. I'm just going to go through some of the things that he says are things of

Christ. These are things Christ had in his life and has still, and we're to

copy him. We're to do something that's so counter-cultural. We're not going to be

authentic. We're not going to be our true selves. We are going to copy someone.

They're going to be the person that I want to become. The first being,

compassion. Now, a more literal translation would be as the NASB puts it,

put on a heart of compassion. This translation, it shows the the deepness

of feeling that new believers, that believers are meant to have, especially

in context to one another, to other believers. Think of Joseph being

reunited with his family, or David and Jonathan's relationship with each other.

We're to have compassion for each other. A kinship, kindness, obviously opposite to

the anger section in in Rath and Malus found in verse 8. Now, the best example

of this is found in, obviously, Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan. We are to

be kind without seeking gain because our God has been kind to us. Humility,

now true kindness can only come when one is truly humble. You can't give away if

you're always thinking of getting something back. If you're not humble.

Now, see as Lewis said it best, do not imagine that if you meet a really humble

man, he will be what most people call humble. He will not be a sort of greasy

smarmy person who is always telling you that, of course, he's nobody. Always love

that one. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful

intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. And if you do

dislike him, it'll be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to

enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility. He will not be

thinking about himself at all. Humility, as a pastor in America said, is not

thinking of yourself less, but thinking less about yourself. When you love someone,

you're not thinking about how they think of you, you're only thinking about them.

And when we consider Paul's words as those who have been chosen of God, holy

and beloved, why are we even bothered by what other people think when that is how

the God of all creation thinks of you? Gentleness and meekness. Now, this is

actually a really confusing one for our day and age, I think anyway, because this

does not mean weakness, but it's very similar to humility. Is your stance

before the one above you? Recognizing who you must obey and submit to. For

example, a meek soldier would be a good obedient soldier. The opposite of meekness

would be a proud, assertive or presumptuous soldier. Now, meekness is, you

could say, is loathed in our culture. Pride and assertiveness, you know, were

taught to tell their children to be assertive. We're never told to tell their

children to be meek. It even sounds weird hearing it out loud. But pride and

assertiveness are elevated to the standard of virtues nowadays.

Jelteness, meekness, well, they stand in really stark contrast and even opposition

to our culture. It makes it very hard to live that way, but meekness and gentleness

does not mean limp-rested. It often sounds that, you know, you meet someone, they give

you a handshake like a fish. It doesn't mean anything like that. There's even a

book my son was given, it's called the meek mouse, or the meek little mouse in

the lion. And we think of a mouse as being meek, because it's weak. We associate

meekness with weakness. But meekness rather means that you are unmoving to the

higher commander, your good soldier. In the army, if a major or sergeant give a

command, who should the private, the one at the bottom, obey? The major, because he

outranks the sergeant. He knows who is to be meek before, who is to be, who is to

move to and who to obey. Likewise, when God gives us a command, we're to ignore

the world and obey God. We are to be meek before God. And this done in the right

spirit, done with gentleness, can even look like arrogance before men.

Just think of when we say there is only one way to God. That's a very arrogant

statement in our world. But in believing it and being unmoving in it, we are being

meek before God. Think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being thrown into the

fiery furnace for not worshiping the King. Think of Daniel thrown to the lion's

den. Think of Jesus when slandered and accused. When he was tempted to be caught

out by the lawyers, Jesus stood his ground. Jesus held to God's law, but he

was never arrogant or proud. Meekness is not actually cardus. It's courage. It's

holding to your convictions to God's word because they were commanded to you by

God. It's strength, more like a mountain, more like a mountain than a

reed before the wind. Meekness is strength. Patience and long-suffering. Our Lord is

patient and long-suffering with us. Christ's actions in this world with His

disciples was patient and long-suffering. Christ is patient with us still. Think of

how much we could turn back to the previous chapter and go, I'm still like

that. How many years have I been a Christian? Have I still not put to death

the same sin that keeps popping its head up? But Christ is patient. He's long

suffering. He is still united to us. He still loves us. He still cares. He still

wraps us. Likewise, Jesus was forgiving. Jesus said that we should forgive our

brother who comes to us 70 times in a day over the same thing. That one's hard

to live with. Children are in March. I'm sure that one comes out all the time.

Forgive overdoing the same silly thing. Our serious thing. There's no limit to

this. Sometimes we can put a limit on our forgiveness. Like, I'll forgive you of

this, but not this. But it's forgiveness all the time. If we love Christ, we want to

be like Him. If we're to emulate Him, if we're to put on Christ, we're to dress up

like Jesus. We're to dress up like Jesus. When we do, the peace of Christ will dwell

richly in our hearts. Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, forgiveness, and

patience bound together with love will mean we think of others first and not

our own rights, not our dignity, and in that, we'll truly have the peace of Christ

resting in our hearts. We'll truly be free of all the shackles that hold us to

this earth when we're trying to be our true self. Lewis goes on to say that God

is trying. I don't take this personally. This is Lewis talking about all of us, me

included. He's trying, God is trying to get us to take off a lot of sick, silly,

ugly, fancy dress that we're strutting about in like the little idiots we are

rather than feel the relief of having for once got rid of all that silly

nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all

your life.

And getting rid of all of that, all of that nonsense will have peace because

it's will be like Christ. And I would add, we would find happiness and

contentment in our lives. So stop seeking after your true self. Rather, seek after

your new self that is Christ Himself. If we realize that we die to this world

with Christ, that we are no longer the earths, we are heavens, we are Christ's.

We will see our old life the way we what we used to call our true self, see it for

the very chains that bound us. That old self with every vice that we hated in

ourselves must be cast off when we see it for what truly is. Then we can put on a

new self, a real and genuine one as we copy Jesus. And in giving up who we

are, we are finally free to become who God has always wanted us to be.

A people who are patient, kind, humble, compassionate and forgiving. We would be a

people who are truly free. So please, will you stop trying to find out who you are?

And realize who you can be? Will you throw off your old self and instead copy

Jesus? Amen, let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, it sounds like a simple task just

to copy Jesus, to not have to reinvent ourselves or find out who we truly are

or what we're truly like. The Father of the Taskus truly seems daunting before us.

We pray that you would help us, help us remember these things and help us remember

all the mercy and patience and kindness you have had on us because you love us

so deeply and dearly. Help us remember that we are hid in you and that you will

never leave us or forsake us. In Jesus' name, amen.