Sunday, December 28, 2014

An Old Message For A New Year



SERMON               GMT14-025

SERIES:              Topical Messages:  New Year’s Message

SETTING:          North Kelso Baptist Church

SERVICE:          Sunday AM (Dec 28, 2014)

SUBTITLE:        An Old Message for a New Year

SCRIPTURE:     Colossians 3:1-4

SUBJECT:          An old message for a new year – what is that old message?

SUMMARY:       The resurrection of the believer demands the pursuit of a new                                         perspective of heart and mind

SCHEME:           that believers change the focus of their perspective for earthly to heavenly
_____________________________________________________________

Our theme is: An old message for a new year

This is a good reminder for us all that as 2015 approaches in just 3 days that you examine the focus of your perspective making whatever changes are, in order not to lose sight of the freshness of the New Year.

 Proposition:  The resurrection of the believer demands the pursuit of a new perspective of heart and mind         

Interrogatory Sentence:  What does Paul want us to know about this new perspective that believers now have as a result of their resurrection?

Transitional Sentence: The passage before us identifies four (4) aspects of this new perspective. As we develop our theme we will clearly understand…

1.     Its foundation   
2.     It’s function
3.     It’s format
4.  It’s finish



An Old Message for a New Year
Colossians 3:1-4


INTRODUCTION

My oldest grandson has joined the United States Marine Corps on a delayed entry program. He graduates from high school this spring and then he will leave for boot camp on July 15, 2015. The Marine Corps will ship him to the Marine Corp Recruit Depot at Paris Island, South Carolina.

Those recruits who fly in or bus in from around the eastern section of the country and the Midwest will be picked up and bussed to the training depot. They will get off the bus and be ordered to stand at attention on yellow foot prints painted on the ground.

From that moment on, they are no longer civilians. They no longer belong to mom or dad, or wife or girlfriend. They now belong to Uncle Sam. And from the moment the soles of their shoes step on those yellow footprints Uncle Sam will be doing everything in his power to break their will, emotions, ambitions, and perspective from being a civilian in order to build new emotions, ambitions, and perspective into them as United States Marines.

This is very similar to what Paul desires to accomplish in this passage. Believers were once non-believers. As non-believers, they possessed emotions, ambitions, and a perspective that was in line with being a non-believer. But, when God, through the Holy Spirit crushes a sinner, bringing a total awareness of sin, condemnation, and judgment to the consciousness of a sinner, and through the HS reveals Christ as the only means of salvation to the sinner, and causes the sinner to call out for salvation, that sinner by being joined to Christ has new emotions, new ambitions, and a new perspective.

Now, let’s stop for a minute before we dive into our text and ask ourselves what makes a man who claims to have been born again different from someone who has not been born again?

·        A new convert’s hair color doesn’t change
·        A new convert doesn’t automatically or instantly gain or lose weight
·        A new convert does not change his race – he is still black, white, or brown

So, what changes? What is different about a new believer?
The answer is simple – and the answer is summarized for us in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV)

So, what is different? The thoughts, the ambitions, the emotions, the affections, and the perspective of a truly born again, or born from above sinner changes. And these things, the thoughts, the ambitions, the emotions, the affections and the perspective of the Christian is not set on spiritual things. The born again sinner is no longer loving the philosophy and the material things of this world.

Our theme today is: An old message for a New Year.

This is a good reminder for us all that as 2015 approaches that you examine the focus of your perspective making whatever changes are needed, in order not to lose sight of the freshness of the New Year.

 Proposition:  The resurrection of the believer demands the pursuit of a new perspective of heart and mind in the genuinely born again person  

Interrogatory Sentence:  What does Paul want us to know about this new perspective that believers now have as a result of their resurrection?

Transitional Sentence: The passage before us identifies four (4) aspects of this new perspective. As we develop our theme we will clearly understand…

1.  The Perspective’s Foundation
2.  The Perspective’s Function
3.  The Perspective’s Format
4.  The Perspective’s Finish

And so, we begin our examination of an old message for a new year. What is that old message?

Believers now have a new perspective; a heavenly or spiritual perspective and that new perspective is only viable and vital when we understand… 

1A    …it’s Foundation – (the resurrection of the believer) (1a)

ei oun sunhgerqhte cristw, ta anw zhte, ou o xristos en dezia

“If then you were raised with Christ…”  (Now, let’s stop there for a minute.)

First of all, this phrase springs from chapter 2 and verse 20, “Therefore, if you died with Christ…” Paul is not doubting the fact that these believers have died to Christ no more than he is doubting they have been raised from the dead with Christ. These verbs assume the fact in question to be assumed as true. There is no doubt or question being thrown out here by the Apostle Paul.

But this brings to the forefront a very, very important principle; those sinners who have been genuinely born again have been raised up or resurrected from the dead with Jesus Christ.

This verb is a very interesting word. It carries the idea “to assist some in getting up.” It also carries the idea of cause someone to rise up or wake up by the help of someone else.

[For example…]

There are times that I just don’t get wake up and I need the help of someone else to wake me up. So, many times Irene will come out and say “It’s 5:00, or get up you have a meeting today.” She assists me in getting up. We also see this idea in Exodus 23:5

“If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.” (Exodus 23:5, NKJV)

Picture this would you, you are walking down a road and you see someone who happens to hate you for some reason. Not only do you see this dude who hates you, you see his donkey laying in the road with a pack on its back and it can’t stand up. Your first thought is to ignore both of them and walk right on by. God says no! Even if you think for a minute you aren’t going to help them, you are to help this dude who hates you to get his donkey back up on its feet. In this scenario you are assisting or helping someone to get up, to rise up.

Why do I stress this point? Being assisted up from death by Christ is crucial. It is crucial on two counts. First, it is crucial so as to be a possessor of eternal life. Second, it is crucial because it is the necessary foundation in order to have and develop a new perspective.
And again, this is not creating doubt but assuming a fact to be true.

[For example…]

If the water on the stove reaches 212 degrees, the water in the pot will boil. There is no doubt that water will boil at 212 degrees, that is a provable scientific fact. It is an assumed fact based on the rest of the sentence – the water will boil.

So, we see the certainty of the resurrection of the genuine believer. It is not disputed nor doubted by the Apostle Paul.

Paul says “…with Christ…” Here is the cause of the resurrection of the genuine believer. The genuine believer is raised up by the assistance of Jesus Christ when He arose from the dead.

Let’s stop here for a minute and talk about this fact that is assumed to be true, the fact that the genuine believer has been raised from the dead because he was assisted by Christ.

The reason that many if not most of the members of our evangelical/fundamental do not display this new perspective is because they have never been raised up by the assistance of Christ. We live in an age of easy believism and rampant semi-pelagic Arminianism.

The sad and tragic truth is that many people who claim to be believers are not truly converted.

Matthew 7:21-23 warns us with great solemnity that not everyone who claims to be a Christian is a Christian. Matthew 13:1-9 illustrates the reason for this tragic fact.

I think there are several reasons for this, but I think we can boil them down to at least two important truths:

First – conviction is not conversion. Many people will feel bad about their sins, sometimes very bad about specific sins. But merely being convicted is not enough. Remember when Paul preached to King Agrippa in Acts 27? What did Agrippa say to Paul? “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

Secondly, it is a miss-handling of the gospel. In order to get as many “decisions,” “converts,” or “people into heaven,” we have dumbed-down the gospel. We have done at least three things to the gospel:

·        We have removed anything that might be offensive – such as repentance
·        We have used the gospel to make promises that aren’t true – wonderful plan
·        We have reduced the gospel to a set of minimal facts to believe

The trouble with this is the gospel is an offense and is offensive to the sinner. Second, the demons believe these facts and more, and they even tremble, but they are not redeemed.

Conversion requires an awareness of one’s sin. Not just individual sins. A sinner must be convinced of his internal sinful nature that holds him in absolute bondage. A sinner must by the working of the HS feel the weight of that sin. Otherwise there would be no conviction what would lead to repentance. There would be nothing to be saved from,

In order to be raised, assisted up in resurrection by Christ a sinner must die first. They only way to day is when the absolute realization of sin bears down on the sinner.

Romans 7:9 says, “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. (Romans 7:9, NKJV)

The law kills self- righteousness and brings deep conviction of sin which causes a person to cry out as the crowd did when Peter preached in Acts 2:

“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’”

The people in this crowd were convicted of their sin. They felt the weight of their and the crush of their sin. This conviction caused them to ask, “What do we do?”

Christ was revealed to them, to their soul that He was the means of relief from the crushing burden of their sin and conviction. This is necessary.

If you ask someone if they are saved and how did they get saved and how do they know they are saved, you will get some pretty odd answers. Most people will tell you they prayed the sinner’s prayer, or they responded to an altar call, or they asked Jesus into their hearts. None of these things are remotely biblical.

If you listen carefully to their answers you will find something missing – that is the testimony of the fact that at some point, by the working of the HS, Christ was or had been revealed to their soul as the only means of salvation.

It is not just asking Jesus into your heart or even asking Jesus to save you that saves you, it is God who makes you alive by His HS and convicts you of your sin causing you to feel the weight of it, and it is God through His HS that reveals Christ, His Son to you as the means of salvation.

That was Christ’s who purpose for coming to this earth – it was to reveal God, to reveal God the Father. God revealed Christ to Nicodemus when Nicodemus met with Jesus.

When Pilgrim carried his burden, his sin and guilt and became aware of its damming propensity what did he finally acknowledge? That Christ had been revealed to his soul.

There is no power in the sinner’s prayer. There is no power or magic in asking Jesus into your heart. Not to mention there is no biblical precedent for it. The power is in the working of the HS as He brings soul crushing recognition a sinner’s guilt and sin, and the power is in the revelation of Christ as the only means of salvation or redemption.

When a sinner has been brought to this point, when the sinner has been crushed by his sin and guilt, and when the sinner cries out what do I do, and when Christ has been revealed to his soul, then you can tell the sinner, ‘Repent and call upon the name of the Lord. “For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13, NKJV)

Not when you walk an aisle, respond to an altar call, pray a sinner’s prayer, or even ask Jesus in your heart, but when you, after conviction by the HS and the revelation of Christ, cry out to God for forgiveness and repent, then there is true conversion and your soul is safe in Christ. Then you have died with Christ and have been assisted in rising up from the dead and that fact can be assumed to be true.

“If then you were raised with Christ…” That is the certainty of your resurrection because the cause of your resurrection is Christ and not some dumbed-down, inoffensive, set of facts.

By the way, this is why I don’t support most children’s ministries and I don’t believe most children’s conversions are real. Most children cannot understand and come to grip with sin, the sin nature, the wrath and condemnation of God on the sinner and understanding the revelation of Christ to their soul as the divine mediator.

I think that most decisions kids make are induced and only serve to inoculate the child from the gospel. I say most only because God can and does do miracles.

I want to move on, but let me say two things at this point:

·        I do not want to upset or create doubt or fear in anyone concerning their salvation

·        If your salvation experience doesn’t include this awareness of sin and the revelation of Christ to your soul, you may not be converted.

So, the foundation of our new perspective is the fact that you were raised up with Christ.

Our theme today is: An old message for a New Year.

This is a good reminder for us all that as 2015 approaches that you examine the focus of your perspective making whatever changes are needed, in order not to lose sight of the freshness of the New Year.

 Proposition:  The resurrection of the believer demands the pursuit of a new perspective of heart and mind in the genuinely born again person

Let’s continue to examine of an old message for a new year. What is that old message?

Believers now have a new perspective; a heavenly or spiritual perspective and that new perspective is only viable and vital when we understand… 

2A … It’s Function – (maintain the proper perspective) (1b-2)

There seems to be at least two functions that serve to maintain the proper perspective of a genuine believer. The first function enables us to:

To maintain our perspective by the command to Seek

ta anw zhte, ou o xristos en dezia

“…seek above where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.”

The Word that Paul used for seek was used in various contexts. When it was used in a “religious” context it denoted “seeking” of something that was lost, view a view of saving it or retrieving it. The idea is related to a general search of quest, or if this helps of investigation.

Interestingly enough, this verb is related to prayer. Prayer in the sense of seeking God. We can see this meaning portrayed in:

Pagans who seek or search for food and clothing – FOR EXAMPLE

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek…” (Matt 6:31-32a)

Stop and think about it for a moment how do pagans, or gentiles seek or search after food, clothing, or something to drink? Relentlessly, with great energy and with great ingenuity. They had to plant, hunt, fish, or spend great amount of time and energy in seeking out food, clothes, and drink.

We have another illustration of what Paul meant in Matthew 13:45-46

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when he found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

How do you think a merchant would seek or search for pearls?

My wife and I got hooked on a Discovery channel reality show called Gold Rush. We watch it most Friday nights. Even in 2014 it is backbreaking, nerve-wracking, energy sapping work to get the gold out of the ground and to turn it into gold dust which is then melted down into bars. It is excruciating work!

The Gentiles seek, search, or investigate the procuring of food, clothes, and drink many times under difficult circumstances. The merchants who seek, search, or investigate after pearls do so under server circumstances.

Paul tells the Colossian Christians to seek, search, and investigate with the view of recovering any and all that we need under the most difficult circumstances.

So, what is it that we are to seek after so diligently? “…those things which are above…”

In a minute Paul is going to use another word. On the surface it might look like he is saying the same thing. He really isn’t. Our word seek refers to emotion or affections. We are not to set our emotions or our affections on the things of this earth, but our affections, our deep seated emotions are to be placed on the things of God.

First of all – What are those things?

Look at the phrase: “…where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.”

Paul is using the image of Christ seated next to God where God is on His throne. The right hand can refer to a couple of things. The first thing it can refer to is “power.” The right hand of someone is a place of power.

It can also be used to denote position or privilege of position. F. F. Bruce says,

“Because He has been elevated to the position of the highest sovereignty over the universe, He pervades the universe with his presence.” [1]

Paul argues that Christ was the preeminent one over all natural creation. So the idea that we take from this is that Christ is ruler of all things.

So the command to seek the things above calls us to focus on the things that related to the rule of Christ in this world. Since Jesus is sovereign, the genuine Christian is to focus on the things that concern Jesus Christ.

Although we live in this fallen world, the affairs, philosophies, and ideologies of this world should not occupy our perspective, or our minds, or our thoughts. The values of a genuine believer are different. So our energies are to be concentrated on the things that pertain to the sovereign rule of Christ on this earth.

Yes it is true that Jesus Christ is sovereign. Yes it is true that he is working to accomplish his eternal plans, but it is equally true that He uses believers to accomplish those eternal plans,

Why wouldn’t we week those things that pertain to Christ and His rule?

·        It may be that some who say they are Christians are not genuine Christians
·        It may be spiritual immaturity, some Christians grow slower than others
·        It may be laziness –
·        It may be an attempt to have a divided mind, James calls it a “two-souled person” or a “doubled minded man”,  a person who tries to have some thoughts in heaven and thoughts on this earth
·        It could be some believers are entrapped in sin and need to deal with it

So, the first function that helps the genuine believer maintain a proper perspective is to seek diligently and earnestly after the things that pertain to the sovereign rule of God on this earth.

The second function that helps the genuine believer maintain a proper perspective is found in verse 2

ta anw froneite, mh ta epi ths ghs

“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Paul moves from the emotions or affections to our intellect or our mind, our thinking process.

Our word is a word that was used of and related to “diaphragm.” Remember the Greeks considered the organs of the bowels to be the “set of emotions.” Primarily because that is where we usually feel or experience our emotions, in our stomach or inner organs.

What does the diaphragm do and how does it relate to what Paul is telling the Colossians? The diaphragm determines the strength and the nature of the breath. Singers and speakers use the diaphragm in various ways to project sound or speech. The strength and nature of the seat of our thoughts or thinking process is controlled by the human spirit and emotions.

The inner part, our mind, our consciousness, our understanding is related to the thought of the seat of spiritual/intellectual experiences. This concept was meant to relate the intellectual activity and it came to be associated with thinking.

Why was this such an issue for Paul and why would it be important to us today?

Remember, at the time Paul wrote this letter he is in prison. Colossae was a small town in the Lycus Valley in Asia Minor. It neighbored Laodicea.

No record of how this church began. While Paul ministered in Ephesus a number of people were made Christians. Two of these people were Philemon and Epaphras. The both seemed to be active in sharing the gospel that they had come to believe.

Paul never visited this church. But the little Church developed problem, especially with false teachers. So Epaphras who probably started and pastored this church traveled from Colossae to Rome to seek help from the Apostle Paul. Paul wrote this letter in response to the report that Epaphras had made.

What were the problems?

The main problem centered on one thing that several affects: syncretism. What is syncretism? Syncretism is the mixing of ideas from philosophy, mythology, and other religious systems with biblical truths.

Remember, the church at Colossae had Greeks, Jews, Phrygia, and many other pagan people who became Christians but brought their past ideas into the church.

These believers tried to cling to their own ideas and wanted to incorporate them into Christianity. Some of them tried to bring into the church and incorporate such things as:

·        Circumcision
·        Jewish food laws
·        Angel philosophy and worship
·        Asceticism
·        Human wisdom

Paul’s point is to take a fresh hold on Christ. Seek God’s sovereign will with great affection and love for God and His position as sovereign. And set your thinking process on the intellectual things of God.

·        You cannot compromise biblical truth with philosophy or legalism
·        You must reject ego-centric thinking for Christo-centric thinking
·        Christ is our life now as genuine believers and controls both our emotions/affections and our thinking process

If we do attempt to integrate biblical truths with philosophical, legalism, mythology, and anything else it affects vital life issues such as:

·        The corruption of priorities and perspectives
·        Our union with Christ

·        The death and resurrection of the believer with all of its implications
·        Our attitude to the death of Christ and His subsequent resurrection

This is what happened to the church at Rome by the way. The very church that Paul wrote his greatest letter to, the letter that we will studying beginning next week, was rendered useless by syncretism.

By 450 AD the church at Rome integrated Jewish theology, legalism, asceticism, mythology with biblical truth and produced what is known today as Roman Catholicism.

Seven Day Adventist is a result of mixing Jewish theology, legalism, and food laws with some biblical truths.

All false religions have done this. Every one of them!

Our theme today is: An old message for a New Year.

This is a good reminder for us all that as 2015 approaches that you examine the focus of your perspective making whatever changes are needed, in order not to lose sight of the freshness of the New Year.

 Proposition:  The resurrection of the believer demands the pursuit of a new perspective of heart and mind in the genuinely born again person

Believers now have a new perspective; a heavenly or spiritual perspective and that new perspective is only viable and vital when we understand…

It’s foundation – the resurrection of the believer in Christ
It’s function – seeking with the emotions and setting with the mind on the Christ

Now, thirdly, that new perspective is only viable and vital when we understand…

3AIT’S FORMAT (the union of the believer) (3)

The format of our perspective is seen in two things, our passing or our death in Christ, and in our position, hidden in Christ. Let’s look first at our passing.

appeqanete gar

“For you died…”

The sad truth is many if not most believers do not understand this principle.

The old you died. What and who you were as a man of Adam died. This is the reason that we are to refuse to love the world and to love the things of God and this is why we are to reject the things of this world and to set our thinking process on the things of God and not on the intellectual things of this world.

To have died or to be dead is a strong expression by Paul to say that the world and its philosophies have no influence on you, no forcible control.

For example, a man that is dead in uninfluenced and unaffected by the things in this world. Sadly, tragically, the two NYC cops that were murdered by assignation are no longer influenced by any executive orders of their chief, mayor, or President Obama. They are unaffected by lust, envy, anger, or desire. Why? They are dead.

A dead man is unaffected by sounds, tastes, pleasures, pain, business or friendship. Sadly, when the family and friends of those two murdered cops file past them they will not be affected by the grief, the tears, the wailing, the anguish, or the words of any person passing by their casket.

When God through His Holy Spirit made you alive and a Christian, in some way, you were crucified and killed with Christ on the cross. As a man of Adam you died and you re now a man of Christ.    

The question is how shall you, who have died, continue to love the world, the things in the world, and to love its philosophies and ideologies? Yu are to be abhorred by them.

So what’s the problem? Paul also that we to consider, or reckon or bank on our having died with Christ. The problem is much of the time we do not consider, or reckon or bank on the reality that we have died to this world and all that is in it when we died in Christ.

How do we respond to and understand our new perspective? By understanding our passing or our death. There is a second way, and that is seeing the second portion of the format, and that is…

…in our position

kai h zwh umwn kekruptai sun tw cristw en tw qew

“…and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Our life has been hidden in God with Christ. Hidden – “to lay one on another” “to cover” “to conceal” When it was used in ancient times it carried the idea of “to cover protectively.”

For example:

When Moses’ mother hid him in the little basket in the river she just didn’t throw him in something and covered him up haphazardly. She carefully placed him in the basket and concealed him with protective covering.

Hiding can be for selfish reasons – we can hide something to keep others from finding it.

Robbers and thieves have caches, caves, secret places where they hide or conceal treasure

Matthew 13:44 speaks of hiding treasure:

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid: and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

First the treasure had been hidden and protected from everyone up to the point this man found it. He re-hid it and then bought the field so he could keep the treasure for himself.

Our new life is hidden protectively in God with Jesus Christ. God is not going to lose Christ, and God will not lose us. Our new perspective is shaped and maintained by the fact that we have died to this world and are no longer affected by it and the new life we have is safe and secure by Christ in God.

So, because you are dead to this world and it has no effect on you and because you are hidden in God with Christ in a very protective manner, seek with your emotions – love the things of God, and set your thinking process on the things of God.


Our theme today is: An old message for a New Year.

This is a good reminder for us all that as 2015 approaches that you examine the focus of your perspective making whatever changes are needed, in order not to lose sight of the freshness of the New Year.

 Proposition:  The resurrection of the believer demands the pursuit of a new perspective of heart and mind in the genuinely born again person

Let’s continue to examine of an old message for a new year. What is that old message?

Believers now have a new perspective; a heavenly or spiritual perspective and that new perspective is only viable and vital when we understand…

4A …IT’S FINISH (our appearance in glory w/Christ (4)

otan o cristos fanerwqh h zwh hmwn

When Christ who is our life appears…”

The culmination of the finish line of having a proper perspective is the confidence that we as believers have in the appearing of Christ a second time.

This is important, isn’t it? It is important because this aspect of this old message is the catalyst for our submission, service, and sacrifice in this Christian life. We maintain the proper perspective because Christ is coming back. And he will be holding us accountable.

Here is the reason for a new set of values. This is why we set our emotions and our mind on the things of God rather than this world. Christ is returning for those who are genuine believers.

This is why the things of this world, which we at one time thought of as so important, are no longer worried about by believers. This is why the ambitions of the world will not affect the genuine believer. Christ will appear a second time to finally redeem His people.

The genuine believer will use the things of the world and in a new way. But the genuine believer is not dominated by them. Because we are motivated by the promise of the returning Christ.

Christ is the life of genuine believers. Remember what Paul said to the Philippians?

“For me to live is Christ…” (Phil 1:21)

Prior to writing to the Philippians, Paul had told the Galatians;

“It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

We can understand this right? We hear all the time people say, “Music is my life!” or “Sports if my life!” or “He lives for his work.” Well, for the genuine Christian, Christ is his life.

The genuine Christian sets his mind and emotions (heart) on Godly things and not on the things of this world, because the genuine Christian judges everything in light of the Cross and in the light of the soon appearing of Jesus Christ. 

It is only natural then that the genuine believer looks up and not around. Christ’s return is certain, we just don’t know when He will appear for us. Since we don’t when His return will occur we need to constantly keep our mind and heart on heavenly things.

Now, not only is Christ returning a major reason to maintain a proper perspective, but we also see a need when we realize…

Genuine Believers will appear with Christ and be glorified!

tote kai umeis sun autw fanerwqhsesqe en doxn

“…then you will also will appear with Him in glory.”

One day we will be glorified as Christ is glorified. Genuine believers have died with Christ, they have been resurrected with Christ, and they ascended with Christ. Genuine believers have a positional oneness with Christ.

On that day the values, the goals, the objectives, and the sacrifice of separation and holiness will be vindicated. The unbelievers will not that Jesus is Lord and they will know that we correctly based our lives on true principles.  They will see that genuine believers built their lives on the correct foundation. They will see that the lives, ambitions, and obedience of the genuine believer were energized by Christ through the HS.

Until then the Christian life is hidden to them and the lost do not understand it.

The day that Christ, who is our life, appears, they will also appear with Christ. That means what we are position ally, which is hidden from the world, will be revealed openly and we will be made known. This glory comes from the total transformation of the person. This glorification will be made known by the transformation of our bodies into the immortal and incorruptible body.

William Hendriksen had this to say;

“Though the world will never be able to see the closeness of the inner relationship between believers and their Lord, the outward expression of this inner relationship the glory, will one day become clear to all: When Christ who is our life is manifested, then you will also will be manifested with him in glory. This cannot mean identity. To say that our life is “the extension” of Christ’s life is ambiguous. Christ and we are not the same in essence, as are the Father and the Son. The life of Christ – hence, Christ himself – is, however, the Source and Pattern of our life, Moreover, through the Holy Spirit and Spirit given faith, Christ is most closely united with us, and we with him.” [2]

This is why genuine believers seek heavenly things with their emotions and affections and why they set their mind/intellect on heavenly things. Genuine believers have a greater destiny than the lost, genuine believers will be glorified one day when Christ, who is their life appears. We are being prepared for eternity. Live like it!

“Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father…” (Matthew 13:43, NKJV)

“…and if children, then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” (Romans 8:17, NKJV)

“”…who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” (Ph. 3:21, NKJV)

It is not easy is it? Even though Paul preached so strenuously against loving this world and living by its principles, it is still a challenge, this world tempts us, our flesh tempts us, and people all around us tempt us.

So the reward, the final result, the product, the finish of our maintaining a proper perspective is that Christ is returning for us and we will be glorified as He is glorified.

Our theme has been: An old message for a New Year.

This is to be a good reminder for us all that as 2015 approaches that you examine the focus of your perspective making whatever changes are needed, in order not to lose sight of the freshness of the New Year.

 Proposition:  The resurrection of the believer demands the pursuit of a new perspective of heart and mind in the genuinely born again person

Believers now have a new perspective; a heavenly or spiritual perspective and that new perspective is only viable and vital when we understand; its foundation, its function, its format, and its finish.

[Well, let’s wrap this up, shall we?]                    

CONCLUSION

As we look toward 2015, we look at a block of time. We see 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31,536,000 seconds. And all is a gift from God. We have done nothing to deserve it, earn it, or purchased it. Like the air we breathe, time comes to us as a part of life.

    The gift of time is not ours alone. It is given equally to each person. Rich and poor, educated and ignorant, strong and weak—every man, woman and child has the same twenty-four hours every day.

    Another important thing about time is that you cannot stop it. There is no way to slow it down, turn it off, or adjust it. Time marches on.

    And you cannot bring back time. Once it is gone, it is gone. Yesterday is lost forever. If yesterday is lost, tomorrow is uncertain. We may look ahead at a full year’s block of time, but we really have no guarantee that we will experience any of it.

    Obviously, time is one of our most precious possessions. We can waste it. We can worry over it. We can spend it on ourselves. Or, as good stewards, we can invest it in the kingdom of God.

The New Year is a block of time. How we use 2015 or whether we waste it or worry over it or spend it on ourselves or invest it in spiritual things depends on our perspective. I hope this old message for a new year helps you maintain a biblical perspective. 

[Exhortation…]

  And So, I exhort you as genuine believers grasp onto this old message for a new year and maintain a biblical perspective of seeking with your affections the things of God and setting your mind/intellect on spiritual things.

Remember the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14…

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind ad reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”Philippians 3:13, 14, NKJV)

Let’s pray! J

Benediction Blessing:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all! (2 Corinthians 13:14, NKJV)



[1] F. F. Bruce, Colossians, Philemon, p.259
[2] William Hendriksen, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1982), p, 112

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